


Catch My Breath

by ChaosPrincessKit



Series: Barely Breathing [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: BAMF!Dawn, BAMF!Stiles, Beginning of season 3, Dawn's in trouble, F/M, Faith and Dawn defend Beacon Hills, Gen, M/M, Magic!Stiles, Only two relationships are truly established, Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, must be tuesday, pack mom!stiles, rewritten, the wolf pack is not subtle at all, will be kinda canon but...as much as it can be with Dawn and Faith added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-10 19:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4404080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosPrincessKit/pseuds/ChaosPrincessKit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the battle of Sunnydale and leery of the prospect of jumping from school to school while Buffy searches out all the brand new Slayers, Dawn chooses to live with her uncle, John Stilinski, when he calls and offers a place in Beacon Hills. Faith chooses Dawn as her watcher and goes with her to appreciate quiet town life. No one told them that Beacon Hills wasn't a quiet little town, but then...neither was Sunnydale. The PTB probably knew, though. Shit's about to go down in Beacon Hills and Faith and Dawn made it just in time for the kick off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fences

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! So...I started writing this story two years ago and then left it when some stuff started going on in my life. By the end of that, I had pretty much moved on with my writing, unable to dredge up a muse for this story again. However, I recently did a rewatch of Teen Wolf and I had so many ideas come pouring in that I had to rewrite the entire thing! so here I am...reposting it. The first couple chapters aren't MUCH different, so if you read it the first round through, it will look pretty much like deja vu lol. But the chapters after that veer off lol
> 
> Obviously the timeline is going to be skewed a bit. This takes place right after the 7th season of Buffy and right before the 3rd season of Teen Wolf. It will follow the basic plot line of season 3 as well, at least the first half. Not sure about the second half (though I will always keep in mind canon information LOL)

Dawn sat numbly in the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel. The battle had ended mere hours ago and even though she had felt a swell of hope after they'd won, she was now starting to feel rather like she was in shock. Her mind kept pouring over images of those that they'd lost in the battle. Anya, Amanda, Cho-ahn… _Spike_. She felt choked just thinking about it.

It was quiet throughout the entire lobby. Those that weren’t in the hospital were just processing the day’s events. Not even Angel’s teams was up for being social, seeing as how they’d just apparently stopped the end of the world themselves and Cordy was in a coma. It looked grim on all sides.  

Andrew was the first to break the silence. “I'm really hungry,” his voice was a familiar nasally whine.

A couple people started at the sound of his voice and others looked around to gauge reactions. Slowly, murmurs of agreement rose around the room as the tell-tale Slayer appetite seemed to kick in, as it always does after a huge fight. When the chatter died back down to silence, everyone went back to staring at each other, unsure of how to go about getting food.

Dawn sat in the back of the lobby, her head cradled in her hands as she stared holes through the tiled floor. She felt the anger swelling through her, the same anger that had flown freely when everyone had started abandoning her. She was so tired of people dying. She was so tired of the people that she loved getting hurt and not being trusted enough to help. Dawn knew that she had more than proved herself in this battle, not only had she fought, but she'd done the research. She'd learned Ancient Sumerian for goodness sake! If that wasn't commitment than she didn't know what was. Still, Buffy had tried to send her away. Had tried to get Xander to kidnap her and take her away from the battle because she would always see Dawn as a kid. That still made her absolutely furious.

Her whole life; well...the life that wasn't fake anyway; she'd been told how she was a 'thing', a key, a freak, different, not real. She didn't belong and her sister was smothering her because her duty to both her sister and the Key that was inside of her. After losing both Anya and Spike, Dawn was starting to feel like she'd lost everyone who'd understood her. She was utterly miserable, tucked away in the shadows of the lobby, isolated from everyone else.

“I guess we could order food?” Angel suggested. Slowly people started patting themselves down for cell phones, some were found, most were not. The one’s that did have their phones searched out a favorite cuisine and began ordering food for the masses.

Dawn wasn't hungry, she didn't care what her growling stomach said. She didn't think she'd be able to force a single bite down. Her stomach was too twisted and rumbly. When she felt the first tear drop to her jeans, she immediately started wiping at her eyes, trying to stem the flow before it started. Crying would do absolutely no good and it would only draw attention to her. The last thing she wanted at the moment was some wanna-be Slayerette to come nosing in on her private moment.

As everyone waited for their food to be delivered, conversation started to rise in the lobby. People were talking about the battle, their plans now that it was over, how excited they were to have full Slayer powers and what they would do with them. It made Dawn sick. Here she was, mourning the loss of her friends, her _family_ and these disgusting brats were power-tripping on their new-found Slayer mojo. Well bully for them.

“What's up, Lil' Sis? You look like you’re still ready for battle,” Faith greeted with a tight smile, sliding neatly in the seat next to Dawn.

“They don't get it,” Dawn answered, not even bothering with a pleasantry or a preamble. Faith didn't ask who, all she did was follow Dawn's gaze. “Sure they didn't ask for this battle and they were scared and they saw people die...but they didn't _lose_ anybody. All of these girls...they're pretty much strangers. Sure they've spent the last few months together and I'm sure some of them might even stay friends for a really long time but…” she paused and blew out a frustrated breath. “They didn't get attached because they knew death was an option. They don't feel it. They don't feel that gut-wrenching hole that comes from losing someone you really loved.” Her throat felt raw and choked, but if Faith noticed her voice crack, she didn’t acknowledge it.

Faith swallowed heavily and nodded. Dawn relaxed slightly and sighed, her shoulders slumping forward. She had been wary of Faith coming back to help them with the battle, after everything that she'd done, Dawn hadn’t even remotely been ready to trust her again. It maybe sort of had something to do with the fact that in Dawn's fake memories, she remembered absolutely idolizing Faith, much to Buffy's consternation and so, when Faith went evil Dawn had felt just a little more betrayed than everyone else.

It was completely different when she'd come back. It was glaringly obvious how much she was trying to atone for and that she was taking big leaps and strides to get there. She'd spent a full evening talking with Spike, and Dawn had trusted his opinion more than anyone else's, really. It didn't take long for Dawn to go back to slightly idolizing Faith, evening going so far as to side with her over her sister, getting Buffy kicked out of the house in the process. There was major guilt there and she didn't even know if her and her sister were ok after that, but their farewell before the battle had been as sweet as ever.

Faith actually seemed to enjoy hanging out with Dawn, much to her surprise. Faith had said that Dawn was blunt, honest and not afraid of the truth and she liked that kinda quality in a woman. There was a surprising amount of double-entendre in her words that made her flush with shock. Faith just grinned and commented on the innocent ones always being so dirty minded and pretended to tsk and shake her head with disappointment. It had been a oddly comfortable moment between the pair.

“They're just kids too,” Faith shrugged, pulling Dawn from her thoughts. “Let 'em blow off some steam and grieve in their own way, they lost something today, too,” Faith reminded her.

Dawn thought about it and fought a resigned sigh. Faith was right, these girls had all lost their innocence, their safety and their normalcy all in one fell swoop. That was a lot to digest in one go, Dawn knew, she'd been there. She hung her head again and felt her body curl down.

“I'm angry too,” Faith said quietly, when Dawn made it obvious she wasn't going to speak. “I'm angry that I couldn't save everyone, I'm angry that I sucked as a leader and almost got everyone killed, I'm angry that people I know are now dead. At the same time though...I'm relieved.” Dawn lifted her head and eyed Faith with equal part curiosity and petulance. “I'm relieved because if I didn't feel any of that, then I wouldn't be human. If I didn't feel any of that then I'd be cut off and angry for the wrong reasons and I'd probably turn that anger on myself or the people I love.”

Dawn cracked a ghost of a smile and ticked an eyebrow up curiously. “So...what you're trying to say is that I'm completely normal for feeling like this?” she offered.

Faith frowned and shrugged, “Yeah, I guess...pep talks are not exactly my forte,” she snorted self-deprecatingly.

“I don't know what I'm gonna do,” Dawn sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I have to finish High School and I just...I'm tired of being surrounded by Slayers. No offense,” she added quickly. “You know I don't mean you. Everyone else though? I'm...I'm tired of feeling like I'm a background character in my own life, you know?”

“I thought you wanted to be a Watcher?” Faith questioned offhand, eyeing Dawn with curiosity.

“I do, I really do!” Dawn nodded her agreement, “I don't mean away from this world, I mean away from...well...this,” she motioned around the lobby. “My sister, the Slayers, none of them see Dawn. They see a Key, they see a weak little girl or they just see Buffy's kid sister. I fought in this battle too and I'm still alive and no one went 'Hey, maybe Dawn is capable of taking care of herself after all'. No. No one even noticed. Even after I fought tooth and nail to even be allowed to be a part of this battle!”

“I get it, Dawnie. You think me of all people doesn't get it?” Faith arched an eyebrow.

“You're a Slayer, you don't get it,” Dawn retorted sullenly, folding her arms over her chest.

“You think I ever got a thank you for anything I've done?” Faith narrowed her eyes, “you think anyone cares if you're going through something and can't fight? It's your destiny and you have to fight because it's what you were made for. You don't get a break so who cares how you're feeling that day? Who cares if you're not up for it? Who cares if you're not ready, right? Cause I'll tell you what, When I broke out of jail to go save Angel's dumb ass, I wasn't ready to jump back in the game and start killing things again. I wasn't sure I could handle and I was fucking terrified I was going to slip again. So no, we might not have the exact same situation, but I know how you feel.”

Dawn was mortified that she had just been called out on her selfish thoughts. She had been trying to put that teenage brattiness to rest, but she guessed that old habits died hard. “I'm proud of you Faith,” Dawn said quietly, her face still red from embarrassment. “You're so much stronger than you think, even if you have doubts still. You've come so so far.”

Dawn looked away from Faith's misty eyes so that she could compose herself privately. Faith cleared her throat after a moment. “You too, Kid,” she responded gruffly. “You think you aren't any better than you used to be?”

“That's all fake, you don't really remember me,” Dawn automatically answered, eyes daring Faith to challenge her.

Of course she did. “So what?” Faith shrugged, “I still remember it, don't I?” Dawn shrugged but didn't reply. “I mean come on, out of all of us, you've been behind the scenes, working the hardest here.”

“That's not true,” Dawn shook her head slowly.

“Really?” Faith gave her a disbelieving look, “Because I seem to remember you being the go to research girl. Dawn, you translated Ancient Sumerian quickly enough to give us the information before it was needed. Not even Willow did that, she read an already translated version,” Faith pointed out.

“I didn't know it had already been translated,” Dawn sulked, feeling a pout form on her lips at the memory.

“My point is, not only did you force people into training you to fight, but you seriously amped up your geek brain. You're like Super-Watcher. Couple that with the magic that I know you can do and that makes you a Triple Threat Watcher.”

Dawn felt a small, proud smile lifting her lips. Yeah...she was pretty awesome, after all.

“Have you told any of this to Buffy,” Faith asked, lowering her voice slightly.

Dawn shook her head and sighed. “What am I supposed to say? She's gonna have to take care of these newbie Slayers, at least for awhile and she knew that. I'm gonna be forced to follow her because I'm just her kid sister that needs to finish High School still!”

Faith smiled sadly, “Maybe just telling her you're not happy will be enough?”

“Yeah...but that's selfish,” Dawn’s lips twisted into a vicious smirk for a moment before she rolled her eyes at herself. “I dunno...maybe things will just get better on their own,” she added in a playfully optimistic voice. “For now, though, I'm gonna go snag one of the rooms upstairs and sleep for a million years. I'll see you when I get up?”

“Probably, unless I'm still asleep,” Faith joked, giving the younger a girl a soft smile. “If it makes you feel any better, Dawn, if I could have my choice of Watchers, I'd totally choose you.”

“Only cause Wes won't do it,” Dawn joked, but secretly she felt incredibly pleased with herself. It meant a lot to her that Faith trusted her like that.

“Wes doesn't know what he's missing out on,” Faith raised her voice ever so slightly so that Wesley, who was standing a couple feet away, would hear her. He lifted his gaze from where they were studying his shoes and locked eyes with his former Slayer. She grinned cheekily at him and gave an impish wave. He rolled his eyes but smiled, nonetheless.

Dawn couldn't help but giggle a bit as she stood and stretched, already sore in places she knew would feel worse by the morning. “Tell everyone I said goodnight,” she told Faith as she headed for the stairs, no one even tried to get her attention as she passed and she didn't even know whether that made her feel better or worse.

She entered the first room she came to and, seeing as how it looked unoccupied, decided that it would be the best place to crash. She took precious moments, clearing all of the dust off the pillows and sheets and made damn sure there wasn't anything _living_ in the bed before she took her shoes off and slid comfortably under the sheets. It was pretty much heaven even though it was a bed made in the 1920s.

It didn't take her very long to fall asleep and when she did, she was plagued with nightmare upon nightmare of possibly everything she'd ever been afraid of, starting with the Turok-Han they'd just faced hours ago. Image after image of every horrible little thing she'd witnessed was on parade in her mind tonight, no doubt triggered by the Apocalyptic battle they had just waged against Evil itself. When she woke up the next morning, she felt more tired than she could remember and that was saying something considering she'd had to bunk down with at least five other girls for the past couple of months. Slayers needed less sleep than others, that was for sure.

When she stood, she hissed in displeasure as most of her muscles (some that she hadn't realized existed on her body) pulled tight and ached fiercely. She was going to get a nice long hot shower and not worry about anyone knocking on the door after five minutes, asking if she was done yet. Strange how that thought thrilled her more than most. As she stood under the spray and washed up, she let her mind wander, hoping to distract herself. She imagined herself standing up to her sister, putting her foot down, demanding proper training to better prepare herself. She imagined her sister's, admittedly fantastical, reaction of sudden realization and respect as they trained Dawn to be the best human fighter in the entire world. Yeah...that was obviously never going to happen, but it was nice to think about.

She exited the shower after a couple more minutes of just standing there, soaking up the heat into her sore muscles. She had to stifle a yelp as she opened the door to her room and found Faith sitting on her bed, waiting for her. Her hands froze inside the towel that was drying her hair and she gaped soundlessly for a moment before regaining her wits. “Jesus, Faith, you scared the crap out of me!”

“Good morning to you too,” Faith smiled and hopped off the bed. “I figured I come up here and warn you that there's a gigantic argument taking place in the lobby right now. Best if everyone just steers clear at the moment, really,” she chuckled to herself. “Also, I brought you some clothes from Fred.”

Dawn groaned and sat down heavily on her bed, the towel that was wrapped around her body pulled tight. “What's going on?” she asked warily, accepting the handful of clothes with thanks.

“Well apparently Angel has been offered the LA branch of Wolfram and Hart and he's taking it,” Faith started and Dawn nodded thoughtfully. It wasn't smart by any means but she could understand the reasoning. “Buffy's not happy about that and is basically calling Angel a sellout. Xander is not helping. More...goading, really.” Dawn couldn't help but roll her eyes, that was typical. “Then, of course, there's the argument of 'What happens now?' where everyone decides how this whole 'Slayer' gig is gonna work now and boy howdy, do they not know. I think whoever can shout the loudest wins that argument. Honestly, it's war down there all over again. All the mini's just want to go back home to their families...those that still have families anyway, so they're fighting for that.”

“This is insane, They're never going to get anything accomplished if all they're going to do is yell about it. No one is listening to yelling anyway,” Dawn shook her head, feeling the anger start to color her cheeks. “We should go break it up at any rate.” She got dressed quickly and her and Faith descended the stairs into what could only be describe as World War Three.

“WOLFRAM AND HART IS EVIL, ANGEL, IF YOU OWN IT, THAT MAKES YOU EVIL!”

“WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT NOT EVIL!”

“DO YOU KNOW HOW LAME THAT SOUNDS?!”

All of this was overlapped continuously by:

“YOU CAN'T KEEP US HERE, WE WANT TO GO HOME!”

“YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! WITH THESE NEW POWERS YOU NEED MORE TRAINING, YOU CANNOT LEAVE.”

“I'M LEAVING!”

Dawn saw the girl, one of the new Slayers, shoulder her way past Giles and towards the door. She was at a lost for what to do, but she had to stop all of the yelling. “HEY!” she yelled, waving her arms, nothing, no one even looked at her. She took a deep breath and she could almost see Faith bracing herself, as if she knew what was about to happen. When her lungs were finally full enough, Dawn pulled out her best and most secret weapon. She let out the loudest, most ear-piercing shrieking “HEY!” she could muster and watched smugly as silence fell and everyone turned to stare at her with wide-eyes. Finally, when all eyes were on her, her scream tapered off and she blushed heavily.

“Holy shit, Lil' Sis,” Faith winced and rubbed her ears. “That is the worst noise I've ever heard in my life.”

“Dawn...” Buffy started, her tone reproving.

“Don't.” Dawn held up her hand coldly, eyes narrowed. “All of you just stop it, this is childish and no one needs it. For God sake we just got out of one battle, why are we trying to start another one?” She looked around at them. “Giles, I understand the newbies need trained, believe me, I do. Still, we have no place to train them and no place to take them. Let them go home to their families while we figure things out. Once we've sorted ourselves out, then we can sort our Slayers out.” She could tell he was going to interrupt her, so she held up her hand again. “Please just think about it. Where are we even going to go? We can't stay here in LA and we certainly can't keep a bunch of super powered girls hostage. What are we even going to offer these Slayers right now? We have no training regime, no Watchers, very little remaining resources and that's just the tip of the ever looming iceberg. These Slayers have seen battle, they know what they are and they know what that means. Let them go home and see their families and let them decide whether they want to help in this fight or not. Nobody has to be the Slayer, not anymore, remember?” she added pointedly. Giles took his glasses off and began cleaning them furiously, his tongue clucking off the roof of his mouth.

“Thank you!” The new Slayer sighed with relief and returned to her seat, “that's what I was trying to say!”

“And you two!” she rounded on Angel and Buffy, the latter of which gave her a warning look. “So what he's taking over Wolfram and Hart, do you know what kind of resources that company has? How many contacts? Do you realize all the good they could do with that building if they managed to wrest it away from the Senior Partners completely? It's totally risky what they're doing and it's definitely not obvious at all that Wolfram and Hart is trying to corrupt them through moral gray areas, but still...silver lining, Buffy, really.” She folded her arms over her chest and huffed indignantly. “I'm so, so sick of all this bickering constantly over every single decision. Everyone wants everything their way. Here's a novel concept, guys: too freaking bad! I want my mom to be alive, I want to not have been used as a sacrificial lamb when I was fifteen, I want to not have the burden of knowing that my sister literally freaking died for me and then came back to life several months later only to make me feel ten times worse than I did when she was dead. I want Tara to be alive, I want Anya to be alive. Spike, Amanda, Cho-ahn, Chole, Annabelle. Those are the things I want that will never happen. We all have crosses to bear.” With that, she turned on her heel and marched out of the Hyperion completely

There wasn't really anywhere she could go, though, she didn't remember LA very well. Not as well as she remembered Sunnydale anyway. She found a secluded corner in the courtyard where two walls met, covered by moss and hanging ivy, and tucked herself away in it, burying her face in her knees. Not only was she still incredibly angry, she was also embarrassed. She hadn't meant to say all that, she hadn't meant to get that personal with it. All she wanted them to do was stop fighting and actually listen to each other. What a novel concept that was.

It was well into the afternoon now and she hadn't moved very much since leaving the hotel. No one had followed her, so she knew they were angry too and that stung. In a way, she was glad though because she really needed the space to clear her head on her own, without the argument following her out into the courtyard. She shifted uncomfortably on the ground and sighed, her butt was starting to go numb and her stomach was growling ferociously. There was nothing for it, really, she was going to have to go back inside and face everyone. It was less than an appealing task.

Hesitantly, she pulled herself to her feet and took her time, meticulously dusting off her borrowed clothes. When there was nothing left to focus on, she trudged towards the front doors, feeling as though she were walking down the Green Mile. Dread pooled in her stomach as she reached out a hand for the door and, finally, after taking in a deep steadying breath, she pulled it open and stepped inside, forcing her head up high. Nobody looked at her. The lobby was practically deserted save for some of the Original Scoobies and the Angel team. She stopped short and gaped.

“Where is everyone?” She asked quietly.

Giles looked up from where he was reading and removed his glasses to clean them. Dawn flushed at the perceived insult and wrapped her arm defensively around her middle. “They're getting ready to leave,” he answered, sliding his glasses back into place with a rather pinched look. “All of them are headed home to their families.”

“Oh...right,” Dawn mumbled quietly, ducking her head down. “That's good.”

“Dawnie, can we talk to you?” Buffy asked from the doorway of Angel's office. Angel stood behind her, his face devoid of emotion.

“Yeah, sure!” Her voice broke, belying her nervousness and she forced a brief chuckle before shakily making her way towards her sister. She didn't want to hear the lecture. She didn't want to hear how she had no right to stand up and make the accusations she had. She didn't want to hear how she needed to not get involved in 'adult' matters. They headed into the office and Dawn was grateful; that meant she wasn't getting her dressing down directly in public. Good.

When Dawn stepped inside, she noticed Faith slouching in one of the chairs, her feet propped up on the desk. “Welcome back,” she smirked in such a way that Dawn was completely positive Faith was on her side.

“Have a seat, Dawn,” Buffy said, motioning to the chair next to Faith as she hopped onto the desk. Angel took his seat behind the desk and leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers together. Dawn had to fight back a grin, she didn't think anyone outside of a James Bond villain had ever steepled their fingers. She sat quietly though, staring at her hands in her lap, unwillingly to begin the conversation.

“Cheer up, D,” Faith grinned, “You're pretty much awesome.”

“Huh?” Dawn looked up curiously, furrowing her brow at the dark haired Slayer.

“You kinda put some things into perspective out there, Dawnie,” Buffy responded. “Now, while I definitely don't like this brand-new mouthy attitude, I understand where it came from. Thank you.”

“You're welcome?” It was a hesitant question.

Buffy smiled gently but tightly. “So...me and Faith had a conversation last night,” Buffy ventured and Dawn turned an accusatory glare towards the brunette. Faith shrugged and smiled. “About how unhappy you are and that you feel held back.”

“I didn't say that,” Dawn denied quickly.

“No, but it's true,” Buffy answered sadly. “I know I'm tough and protective, but it's just because I love you so much, Dawnie, you're my sister,” tears filled the blondes eyes and she looked away to compose herself quickly.

“Dawn, you’re a teenager still and it’s normal to need security and stability,” Angel added.

“I'm growing up, guys, you're not gonna be able to stop that. I dunno where we're gonna end up and I hate that. I hate that I don't even know where I'm going to finish High School or if I'm going to hop around from High School to High School. I hate that I know I'll never have any of my own friends because they're too busy being friends with you!” Dawn sighed heavily and slumped down. “I just...want mom back so bad. I love you, Buffy, but you don't know how to be a mom yet and I really need my mom, you know? Dad's too busy in Spain to really even care...he didn't even call when mom...well...whatever. His loss anyway, right?” she scoffed and wiped discreetly at her eyes.

“Well...that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about, Dawnie,” Buffy started nervously, fingers twisting around themselves in her lap. “You remember Uncle John?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dawn laughed. “Besides Aunt Carol, he’s pretty much the only family member we ever hear from. I’m literally positive he’s called more in the past five years than dad has, which is zero times, by the way,” she pointed out unnecessarily.

“Yeah,” Buffy agreed with a half smile. “Well...he called a couple hours ago. Apparently Sunnydale sinking into nothing is world wide news right now. Mom, of course, told him we were living there when we moved. First he said how grateful he was that we were still alive and how sorry he was for not being around and how hard it had been seeing mom after Aunt Claudia passed,” she smiled grimly. “Then he started asking where we were going to go and if we needed a place to stay and he pretty much practically insisted that we come stay with him and his son immediately,” she chuckled and Dawn shared her smile for a moment. “I'm not going,” Buffy said decisively. “I have too much to do, too much of an obligation to these girls now and I have to find a way to make this right.”

Dawn's smile dropped and thick disappointment clogged her throat. She nodded slowly and looked back down at her hands. “Makes sense, you know, since you pretty much forced them to become Slayers,” Dawn couldn't help but lash out.

Buffy winced and sighed. “Dawn, I… well, I mean, _we_ talked about it. I want you to go to Beacon Hills and stay with Uncle John. At least til you're through with High School,” she tacked on hastily. “I'm going to be traveling… a _lot_ trying to find every new Slayer and so is everyone else in this group, we're gonna be split up, you're not gonna have the family you need right now and that's really important.” Dawn was silent and so Buffy pressed on with more urgency, “I know it seems like I'm trying to send you off again and keep you out of the fight and yeah, maybe I think you'll be safer there but I also think you'll be more stable there. This is killing me, Dawnie, you're all that I have left of mom and even dad… but I have to let you be your own person and you're never gonna find that person with all of these overbearing personalities surrounding you,” she gave a watery laugh. “You do understand, don't you?”

“Are you serious?” Dawn asked curiously, lifting her gaze to meet her sister's. “You want me to go live with some family that I barely remember from my incredibly fake childhood without you? That's not fair, Buffy. You're my sister, I thought if anything that we'd at least stick together.”

“I know, Dawnie, I know,” Buffy soothed. “You're right though. You need a parent still and I'm… I'm all slay and no play,” she attempted to joke. Dawn cracked a stilted smile. “I know that what you want the most right now is definite answers and a place to call home and that's what Uncle John is offering. He knows it's been tough on us since Mom died, thank god he didn't know that _I_ died.”

“So that's it? I get sent to a new town surrounded by absolutely no one I know and just...what? Live out the rest of my high school career in Podunk, Nothingville?” Dawn scoffed, feeling a bit of her inner brat rearing it's head.

“Actually, no,” it was Faith who spoke up. “I'm going with you.”

Dawn gaped incredulously. “Excuse me,” her eyebrows arched high on her forehead. “You're doing what?”

Faith chuckled, “this is fun, it's like a game of charades. I'm,” she pointed to herself, “Going,” she mimed walking with her fingers, “with you,” she made a circle with her hand and then pointed at her. Dawn's face fell into a very unimpressed scowl.

“Why in the world would you want to do that?” she blurted out rather rudely, immediately flushing red and shaking her head, “sorry, that came out wrong...”

“Aw come on, D, I thought we were buds now,” Faith ribbed playfully but at the insistent clearing of Buffy's throat, Faith's smile faltered. “Buffy didn't want to send you without someone to look over you, you know? Sure, you can handle yourself, but what happens when the apocalypse inadvertently starts?” she joked with a small huff of a laugh. “And well...I want to go for me. What I told you last night was true, I really wasn't ready to jump back in the game...I need time to ease myself back into the world. My record is being erased with 'time served' whatever that means. Apparently good little girls who stop the end of the world get all the best things,” the false smile she gave was mocking at best. “I wasn't lying when I said I'd pick you as my Watcher and well...I guess I'm picking you as my Watcher,” she laughed hesitantly. “No offense to these guys, but Wes ain't gonna be my Watcher any time soon and I'm not gonna trust anyone else they find.”

“Well...there's Andrew...” Dawn began impishly, a smile curling the corners of her lips.

“Oh really?” Faith scoffed “you really think that Andrew could handle being alone with me for five minutes without bursting into tears?”

“Well...no...probably not,” she snorted at the thought and turned her contented gaze back to her troubled sister. “Thank you, Buffy. I understand what you're trying to do and I guess I agree to a point. So, thank you.”

“You're welcome, Dawnie. I only want what's best for you,” Buffy sighed and ran her hand through the younger girl's hair. “You've grown up so much, so fast...I'm so proud of you,” she smiled and pulled Dawn up and into a firm hug.

Dawn wrapped her arms around her sister, squeezing back just as tightly, feeling a couple of tears slip down her cheeks. She was anxious about leaving her sister’s company. She hated the feeling of not knowing what was happening and she’d already lost Buffy once. Still, the thought of a stable home might be nice, at least until the end of High School. As long as the town wasn’t devoid of _everything_ supernatural. It was almost comforting to be surrounded by that world. She’d grown up in it. She _was_ it. It would always be apart of her life, so she hoped Buffy would realize that Dawn wouldn’t stay out of it forever.


	2. Welcome To Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn and Faith arrive in Beacon Hills and everything is super normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have about 8 chapters of this completed already, so the updates will be pretty frequent until I get caught up to where I'm writing

Dawn spent the next couple of days in LA with her sister, after which both would separate in their own directions. Giles was already in England, trying to gather his resources and contacts to began building the new Council. Being that he was the senior Watcher in charge now, he had come into possession of the entirety of the Council's funds, which he generously gifted some of to the Original Scoobies, as ‘back-pay’. It seemed everyone had separated for their vacations after that. Xander needed time by himself after Anya's death and decided to do a 'Vision Quest' thing in Africa. Willow and Kennedy had decided on a cross country road trip and, of course, Faith hung around LA with them. Dawn was pretty sure it took Faith and Gunn about five seconds to become best friends.

Dawn was rather calm and relaxed at the moment. Her and Buffy had spent time power shopping for a whole new Beacon Hills Wardrobe; Buffy said it was to 'impress the locals' but Dawn just enjoyed spending the time (and money) together. It only made her slightly more petulant that she'd be going to Beacon Hills without her sister. Just because she understood the reasoning, didn't mean she actually had to like it. Logic was rarely ever fair. She would have Faith though and that made her feel better, because she'd gotten rather close to the brunette Slayer.

When it came time for everyone to say their goodbyes at the end of the week, Dawn was devastated. Sure she would be headed to Beacon Hills with Faith but who knew when she'd see her sister or her friends again? She'd clung to Buffy and sobbed for at least an hour the day they had to leave, much to everyone else’s amusement.

Her embrace with Angel was way less dramatic but she still held him at tightly as she could for a full couple minutes until it started feeling uncomfortable. “If you need anything, Dawnie, you know I'm here for you,” Angel stroked her hair and kissed her on the forehead. Dawn gave him a watery smile and threw her arms around him again, burying her face in his shoulder.

“Don't let Evil Inc. steal you, Angel, you're like my big brother and I love you,” Dawn sniffled and wiped discreetly at her eyes. “And now that I feel entirely pathetic for being weepy, I'm gonna go say bye to everyone else,” her cheeks tinged pink and she smiled crookedly.

It was just a quick round after that. She hugged Wes and kissed Gunn on the cheek and then wrapped her arms tightly around Fred. She thought that out of all new people she'd met, she'd miss Fred the most. She was such a sweet, gentle, caring person. Dawn thought she'd make a perfect mom some day, just based on her hugs alone. Her eyes were streaming freely as she made her way to the front doors, where Faith was waiting, the bags in her hands. She turned one last time to really take in her friends and family.

“You're such a Drama Queen,” Faith chuckled dryly, “You're not going to some desert island to be isolated from everyone, we'll probably see them at Christmas or something. Next summer at the most, obviously.”

That actually made Dawn feel a little bit better and she took a deep, calming breath. “You're right,” she sighed, “you're totally right. I'm being weird,” she chuckled and swiped at her eyes again. “I just love you guys and I'm really going to miss you.”

“Oh we know,” Buffy replied mischievously, “I remember you cried for a month after Angel left Sunnydale. I'm pretty sure that was longer than I cried.”

“Oh haha,” Dawn made a face at her sister, “I was 12, it was devastating!”

“That's cute,” Faith smirked.

“Ugh, let's go,” Dawn muttered, taking some of the bags from Faith and stomping towards the exit.

“Bye, Dawnie, love you!” Buffy called out laughingly.

“Love you too,” Dawn grumbled, though she was trying to hide her smile.

The trip was only a couple hours and she felt better knowing that she wasn't going to be that far away from LA. The car ride was filled with radio music and idle chatter about the town they would be staying in. Other than a semi-recent rash of 'Animal Attacks', Beacon Hills was pretty much a non-existent blip on the supernatural radar.

Faith figured it would be the perfect set-up to ease herself back into the real world before throwing herself back into the supernatural one. Dawn thought it sounded boring. It was like leaving one Sunnydale for another without the gooey hellmouth-y center. It was going to be hard to go from a year of constant stress and terror to a quiet town with seemingly absolutely nothing of interest happening ever. Other than seeing her family again, she was pretty much just not looking forward to it.

When they reached Beacon Hills, the sun was starting to dip below the horizon. Faith and Dawn were both arguing loudly, phone GPS signaling shrilly at every turn. “It says go straight!”

“It said COPPERHEAD ROAD,” Dawn shook the maps that were clenched in her fist. “THAT was Copperhead road!”

“Well, I'm still going straight,” Faith muttered, locking her eyes on the road again.

“Screw this,” Dawn huffed and grabbed her phone, clearing out the GPS and scrolling through her contacts. When she found her Uncle's house number she pressed 'call'.

It took a couple moments, but soon there was a pleasantly perky voice on the other end. “Hullo?”

“Um...Stiles?” She questioned hesitantly. That voice sounded way younger that her Uncle was.

“Y...ep, who's this?” he questioned, suddenly sounding nervous.

“Oh right, It's Dawn,” she answered, feeling her cheeks redden even though he couldn't see her embarrassment. “I think we're lost.”

“Oh! Hi! No problem, no problem, just tell me what street sign you see,” Stiles urged.

“I see...” she scanned her surroundings quickly, “Milligan Avenue.”

“Oh yep, you're right up the street, it's ok. Just turn around and come back to Copperhead Road, then you'll hit Coral street and once you're in there, the second right is where you wanna go, we're the corner house. I'll be standing out front waiting for you,” he added as an afterthought, “then you'll definitely know where you're going.”

“Thanks Stiles, see you in a minute,” Dawn smiled down the phone.

“See ya!” he said brightly and hung up the phone.

Dawn hung her own phone up and turned to Faith with a smug smirk. “See, I told you. Now turn around, go back to Copperhead road and we'll be there!”

Faith grumbled and huffed, but complied nonetheless.  When they arrived, Stiles was standing in the front yard, waving his arms rapidly and grinning like a deranged mental patient. Dawn couldn't help but smile. She couldn't remember the last time she saw so someone so… _happy_. Her life had been pretty much 'doom and gloom' from the get-go, such is the burden of having a Slayer for a sister.

She was practically pounced on as she exited the passenger side of the car. “Dawnie!” Stiles crowed, arms wrapped around her shoulders.

She giggled lightly and shoved him off, “Hi, Stiles,” she grinned at him. It had been years, really, since she'd last seen Stiles (and honestly, she wasn't even _real_ the last time she'd 'seen' Stiles), and he was still just as excitable as she remembered. Obviously he remembered her too.

“Who's this? Dad said someone was bringing you into town since Buffy skipped out,” He joked, looking around to Faith.

“Buffy's just...too old to be held down,” Dawn shrugged her shoulders, “she's got some really important obligations out of the country.”

“I'm so telling B you called her old,” Faith ribbed with a grin.

“Oh my God, you wouldn't!” Dawn gasped, eyes widening. “Stiles, this is my lovely friend Faith,” she remarked calmly a moment later.

“Awesome,” he chuckled, rubbing a hand over the top of his head, mussing his hair. “Welp...Dad says come inside...the both of you and we're gonna have dinner in like...” he checked his watch, “now. We're gonna have dinner now,” he finished and ushered them both up the front steps and through the door. “Dad, I picked up some strays, can I keep them?” he called into the kitchen.

“Just in time!” she could hear her Uncle John's gruff voice float out of the kitchen. “Stiles, I dunno if I should touch this, so come get it before I make it deflate or something.”

Stiles frowned, “It's a casserole, dad, not a souffle,” he muttered before making his way into the kitchen.

Dawn and Faith exchanged looks before following quietly. The kitchen was medium sized, plenty of space to move around and still have a table and chairs. Uncle John was leaning against the counter, sipping a mug of coffee and Stiles had adorned an apron and was currently checking the oven whilst simultaneously stirring on the stove. Uncle John was the first to notice them enter.

“Dawn!” he smiled widely and held his arms open towards her.

She felt hesitant for a moment before deciding 'what the hell' and gave him an enthusiastic hug. “Hey Uncle John!” she grinned. “thanks for inviting me here...” she added in a quieter voice.

“Of course I did! After what I'd heard on the news...I'm so glad you girls are alive!” he exclaimed.

Dawn flushed with embarrassment; she didn't know whether it was because they'd been the ones to sink Sunnydale in the first place or because someone besides her sister was actually showing concern for her. Probably both. “This is Faith,” Dawn turned quickly to the Slayer.

Faith lifted her hand in a wave and looked around the kitchen, “nice digs...Sheriff,” she looked down at the badge on his shirt. Her eyes darted to Dawn's, a brief flash of worry only noticeable to the younger girl.

“Thanks...Faith, right?” he lifted an eyebrow. She nodded her head in response and he smiled widely at her. “I'm really glad you decided to move out here with Dawn. Not many people would have done that.”

“Dawn is pretty much the only person I trust that will trust me back,” Faith responded both vaguely and intensely. “Yeah, I know how pathetic that sounds cause I'm 20, but it's true,” she shrugged. John didn't reply, but gazed at her searchingly, as if he would easily be able to read the answers to his questions right off her face.

“Dinner's ready!” Stiles broke the silence with a nearly strangled yelp.

The meal was amazing and she was surprised that Stiles was such a lovely cook. When she'd praised his ability, he mumbled something about his mom's recipes and blushed. It was such a comfortable atmosphere that Dawn practically felt a weight lifting off her shoulders, leaving her giddy and light. They chatted about everything, from starting up school in a week to sports; apparently Stiles played Lacrosse. Not once did anyone ever mention a demon or a weapon or that dead guy they saw the other day. It was the most normal conversation she'd ever had...

After dinner was over, John told them that he and Faith would do the dishes and that Stiles should show Dawn to her room. Dawn was kind of excited to have a brand new room to decorate, an empty canvas if you will. It had been so hard to change up her room in Sunnydale because everything was already in there. She followed Stiles up the stairs, listening intently to him rambling about his friends, whom she would most definitely meet at some point.

“This one's mine,” he pulled to a stop at the first door in the hallway, he swung the door open so she could peek in.

“Very nice,” she commented with a nod.

“That one is my dad's,” he pointed just a little bit down the hall. “across from that is the bathroom and this,” he opened the door across from his room, “is your room.”

She walked into the nearly empty space and smiled. It was a bit smaller than her bedroom back in Sunnydale, but she didn't mind. She had significantly less things now anyway. There was only a bed in the middle, right in front of the window and a little nightstand dresser to the left. The walls were painted a soft blue, that Dawn found rather soothing and decided to keep. The carpet was the same plushy cream that the rest of the house was. The closet was open and empty save for a full length mirror resting on its legs.

“It's not much...” he started, sounding embarrassed.

“It's amazing!” Dawn smiled widely. “I'm so glad that it's empty, now I can decorate any way I want!”

“I'm glad you like it then,” he returned her smile enthusiastically.

Everything was comfortably silent for a moment as Dawn looked around the room, sizing it up for all its different possibilities. She walked over to the bed and smoothed down the comforter before sitting by the pillows. “Comfy,” she remarked, mostly to herself. “So...this is awkward, right?” she turned her attention to him, noticing that he was hovering rather anxiously by the side of the bed

“I dunno, maybe?” Stiles shrugged and plopped himself down next to her. “I've never lived with a girl before, so that's new and exciting. Plus, we really haven't seen each other since you left LA. I have no idea what you're like anymore,” he remarked.

“That's true,” Dawn nodded. _Plus I wasn't actually real. So you **really** have no idea who I am_ , she thought ruefully to herself.

“I remember liking you, though,” he offered with a hesitant smile. “I mean...we're both kinda spaz klutz's. So I guess it must be a little hereditary,” he chuckled.

“I feel so much like I'm invading,” she slumped down on the bed and sighed. After they both remained silent for a couple moments Dawn shuddered sadly. “I miss my mom.”

Stiles opened his mouth and then closed it again, eyes dropping to study his hands. “Yeah, I heard about Aunt Joyce,” he frowned at his fingers. “It sucks when you lose your mom.” If possible, his face grew even sadder and Dawn's heart hurt for him and for herself. Just another crappy thing in common, she supposed. “At least I still have my dad, though,” he added with a bite, “Uncle Hank is a piece of work.”

“Yeah...” Dawn said in a small voice.

Stiles was quiet for a moment before he realized what he'd said. “Oh my God, I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. I totally didn't mean to imply that I'm better because my Dad's around. I was just pointing out that I'm lucky enough to have a parent here. You do to, now, though! Yeah, he's not your dad cause that would be weird, but he's an adult and he's family so he's like a parent!” he rambled.

“Wow...I thought only Willow could do that,” Dawn stared at him curiously. “Besides, it's not like you didn't say anything false, really. Hank is a piece of work and he's not my father,” she stated. Which was technically true; she didn't have a father because she'd never been 'born'. “I washed my hands of him a long time ago and I like to think I've moved on from that particular disappointment.”

“I like you,” Stiles chuckled at her. “I'm glad, I'd totally hate to live with someone I hated. Like Jackson. You'll meet Jackson. Please don't like Jackson.”

“I make no promises because I like everyone, initially. Until they inevitably try to hurt me...and even then they're redeemable. Everyone's redeemable, I think.” Dawn said thoughtfully. “I'll try really hard though,” she promised.

“Try to hurt you?” Stiles questioned, looking hesitant yet slightly curious.

“Oh...” Dawn thought quickly, “not like...physically or anything. That would obviously end a friendship pretty quick.” No, actually, that had yet to end any of her friendships with anyone.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he chuckled. “I dunno about that though, Scott's gotten pretty pissy with me a couple times and we're still friends. I mean full out fights when I say pissy,” he added.

“Your friends sound absolutely lovely,” Dawn remarked dryly.

“Oh ha ha,” he made a face at her. “But I guess I could give you the run down on everyone you're likely to meet next week,” he added.

It took several minutes but Stiles went through a detailed list of his friendships, starting with his best friend Scott and ending with Jackson, who he wanted to hit with his car. She was almost positive she’d heard him mutter ‘again’ but she wasn’t going to mention it. Surely if he’d done any serious damage, Jackson would either not be alive or would hate Stiles far worse than Stiles hated him. Not to mention Uncle John would have killed him.

“You have a lot of friends,” She remarked, looking impressed. “Back home I had Kit and Carlos. There was Cassie, but she died...her heart gave out after some boys kidnapped her as a prank.”

“Oh my God, that's horrifying,” his eyes widened and it took Dawn only a fraction of a second to realize that statement was weird.

“Yeah...not many good things happened in Sunnydale. That whole town was bad luck, I think,” she sighed heavily at herself, cursing her stupid mouth and it’s ability to just say things.

“Obviously, considering it's probably going to be Lake Sunnydale by next year,” he joked.

They fell into companionable silence once more, each lost in their own thoughts. Dawn remembered Cassie and her predictions of the future. She had always seemed so sure and so at ease with the knowledge she had. She knew she was going to die and she didn't fight it. Not once. Meanwhile Dawn felt like she was fighting every day just to stay alive and she honestly didn't know which feeling would be better. To perfectly accept your fate, or fight it every step of the way.

A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see Faith standing in the doorway. “Hey, D, I'm gonna head out and check out the new house. I'll bring you by tomorrow, ok?”

“Yeah, of course,” Dawn got off the bed quickly and moved to give the girl a hug. “Also, tomorrow I want to go get a car with the money Giles gave me and don't give me that look because it's a necessity,” she added petulantly.

“Yeah, sure,” Faith replied with a shrug, “I'll take you tomorrow then.”

“Cool,” she smiled, “bye Faith.”

“See ya, D. See ya, Stiles!” she called over her shoulder as she headed down the steps and, presumably, out of the front door.

“She's pretty cool, how did you guys meet?” Stiles asked, “she's obviously older than you.”

“Yeah..about...three or four years, I think,” Dawn nodded thoughtfully. “We initially met through Buffy. Her and Buffy had a falling out, though and for awhile Faith wasn't around anymore. When she came back, her and Buffy put aside their differences and I got to spend a lot of time with her. They never really got back on level, you know? Too much history and drama, I think, but it was different with us. Yeah, we had some issues, but I can see a changed person when I...well...see them. She's like another big sister to me and we sort of look out for each other, you know? She's not perfect and I'm not either. We keep each other on point, I guess.”

“Aww, that's such a touching story,” He cooed, causing her to swat at him. “No, but seriously, she's hot. Do you think she'd date me?”

Dawn laughed. “Date you?” she questioned, “Stiles, she'd _break_ you.”

He thought about it for all of a split second before shrugging, making a 'meh' face. “There are worse ways to go,” he replied.

“Ew...” she made a face and he laughed at her.

They stayed in her room and traded edited stories for hours before John tapped on the door and told them both to go to bed. When Stiles bade her goodnight and closed the door, she sat there awkwardly for a moment. Sure, she was tired, but she also felt uncomfortable. She didn't feel safe and in fact, felt incredibly exposed. Logically, she knew it was because she was in a brand new setting and it would take her awhile to adjust, but all of her other senses were screaming at her to at least arm herself. Silently, she crept to one of her duffel bags and pulled out a long, serrated hunting knife sheathed in leather. She tucked it under her pillow, feeling just a little safer now. She began to get ready for bed, changing her clothes to pj's and brushing out her hair. By the time her evening ritual was over, she was more relaxed and ready for bed. Shutting the lights off, she slipped under the blanket and closed her eyes, willing herself to fall asleep quickly, but knew it wasn’t likely.


	3. New Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn meets Scott and has to actively convince herself that she is not on a hellmouth and automatically assuming her cousins friends could potentially be something supernatural is not sane or rational. 
> 
> It totally is though.

Once again, Dawn’s night was filled with an endless terror stream, courtesy of her subconscious. Nightmare after Nightmare poured in continuously. Turok-han, her friends and family dying, getting overpowered, getting tricked by the First. She jerked awake in a sheen of sweat as the sun started to peek over the trees and filter into the room. Her heart hammered against her chest and her fingers were curled tightly in her duvet. All she could was force herself to sit up and breathe.

The first thing she did was unclench her hands. The joints in her fingers popped and ached, letting her know that she’d been clinging for awhile. The second thing she did was notice that she didn’t recognize her bedding at all. It only took a split second to snap to full awareness with a surge of adrenaline and it wasn’t a big leap of comprehension from there to remember that she lived in Beacon Hills now. Boring, out of the way Beacon Hills where she wouldn’t be kidnapped and hunted down every week. Which was nice, but honestly, she thought she might miss it eventually.

Dawn would be the first to admit that it was an ice cold shock to the system. This time last year, she was in her house in Sunnydale, about to start her first day at the new Sunnydale High. She was surrounded by her sister and her friends...and demons, let's not forget those. Then she had been surrounded by dozens of Potentials. There was no space to even take a breath of air by herself in her house anymore and God forbid someone take more than five seconds in the bathroom. She'd shared her room with five different girls and couldn't remember the last time she hadn't actually slept on a Slayer's schedule.

She supposed that the biggest shock was not having her sister. The last time she hadn't had her sister around, it was because she was dead. It was hard not regressing into those same feelings of desperate depression. She knew Buffy was alive and well, living in England somewhere with Giles, rebuilding the council. She knew someone would have called immediately if anything had happened to her. Logically, she knew Buffy was safe. Emotionally, however, she felt anxious. She dialed her sister's number immediately, just to soothe her own mind.

“Dawnie!” Buffy's voice greeted warmly after the second ring. “How are you settling in?”

“Good, I just woke up a little bit ago. Me and Stiles are getting along really great, we have a lot in common. Also he cooks so I automatically love him,” Dawn responded easily, feeling the tightness in her chest ease.

“Ah,” Buffy agreed sagely. “How are they?”

“Worried. I guess Sunnydale going down was a really big deal. It didn't feel like it at the time. It was more of a 'At least we saved the world' feeling that I got,” she answered.

“Yeah, that comes with being forced to see the bigger picture all the time,” Buffy sighed sadly. “It's a hazard of the job. Of what consequence is losing an, admittedly, deserted town when, on the other hand, we just saved the entire freaking world, right?”

“Exactly,” Dawn let out a relieved breath, her sister got her.

“So what's up? I didn't expect a call from you so soon. How's Faith?” Buffy asked curiously.

“Just wanted to hear your voice, I guess,” Dawn replied quietly, deciding that honesty was probably going to be the best approach with her sister. “Ever since...well...I really don't have a track record of dealing with you being gone,” she pointed out.

“Oh,” her sister stated, sounding surprised. “Oh God, Dawnie, I never thought...” she sighed heavily. “You know you can call me any time, right? Day or night, time zones be damned. We'll both be ok.”

“Yeah, I know. I'm ok now,” she assured her. “It's just different.”

“Different can be good,” she reminded the young girl. “You, of all people, know that.”

“Yeah...I guess so. It's just scary,” she said lowly.

“What's that saying? If you're scared of moving forward, you're going in the right direction? I dunno...something like that,” Buffy replied absently.

“I understand the sentiment,” Dawn chuckled in response. “Thanks Buffy, I love you.”

“Love you too, Dawnie, have a good day!” Buffy called as they said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.

Dawn felt significantly lighter as she set her phone down and got out of bed to start her day. However, as she pulled her door open, ready to head to the bathroom for a quick shower, she was stopped short at the sight of someone sneaking into Stiles' room. She gasped and took a step back, feeling hairs on the back of her neck stand. The boy turned his head to look at her, eyes widening visibly, then narrowed dramatically. He gave her a wary look, warring with himself over an apparent fight or flight response.

“Who the hell are you?” Dawn demanded.

“Are you Dawn?” Was the demanding answer she got instead.

“That's me,” she answered, raising an amused eyebrow.

“Oh,” he dropped his defensive posture and smiled a dopey little smile. “My name is Scott,” he told her.

“Ah. Stiles' best friend slash pain in the ass slash brother from another mother whom I better love or he can never claim to be related to me,” Dawn nodded sagely.

Scott chuckled and rubbed a hand through his hair. “Yeah, that sounds like something Stiles would say. He told us everything he could remember about you when he heard you were coming to stay here for awhile,” he admitted sheepishly.

“Oh my _god_. The last time I remember seeing Stiles, I was like...eleven. It was bad, please don't listen to anything he said. I've grown as a person, really,” she giggled.

Scott full out laughed this time and leaned against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. “Nah, he didn't say anything bad. Just that you ramble and you make weird references and you were really into Brittany Spears at one point.”

“She was a mouseketeer,” Dawn said, almost to herself, with a pout. “So, I'm guessing you're here to, probably, scare Stiles awake and kidnap him for the day?”

Scott flushed a light pink and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, actually...why, did you guys have a family thing?” he suddenly sounded nervous.

“Nope. Feel completely free to kidnap away,” she assured him pleasantly. “Tell Stiles that I'm cooking dinner tonight and he better be here,” she added as she moved past him and made her way to the bathroom.

“Hey, can I come too?” Scott called after her.

“...Yes?” it was more of a question than a statement.

“Cool. I love food,” he grinned and pushed open Stiles' door, sneaking his way inside.

Dawn shook her head with the laugh and entered the bathroom. He'd been cute in a really dopey way. It hadn't escaped her notice how he'd reacted upon seeing her though. Like he was ready to attack. It had only taken him a split second to slip into a easier demeanor and suddenly she wasn't so sure if she trusted Scott's dopey little grin.

Worrying her lower lip, she looked at herself in the mirror. “Don't be stupid, you just startled him is all,” she muttered to herself. She was being overly paranoid. _Too_ suspicious. This was Beacon Hills not Sunnydale.

She picked up her brush and started untangling all of the sleep knots that had formed, planning out her day as went and trying to remember that her life wasn't submerged in the supernatural anymore. She was going to go to this small town's single Car Lot and purchase herself a nice, safe, car. Then she'd probably head over to Faith's and look around her new, normal, home. It was all going to be very normal and very...boring. Dawn kinda missed Sunnydale’s adventure a day lifestyle. She was pre-conditioned to fear for her life, it seemed. What good was hyper-vigilance going to do her in an, admittedly, normal town?

After completing her morning ritual and a much needed shower, she felt significantly better. She slipped on a new pair of sweat shorts and a tank top and headed back to her room, towel drying her hair on the way. As she passed by Stiles' open door, she heard the murmur of voices and couldn't stop herself from straining her ears to listen.

“No dude, I'm seriously, she's weird,” Scott was insisting.

“Dawn's just spazzy like me, she's not weird,” Stiles admonished, sounding offended.

“No, I mean like… _weird_ ,” Scott tried to clarify significantly.

Dawn pursed her lips indignantly and felt just a little hurt as well. Quietly, she slipped into her room and shut the door, leaning her head against it with a sigh. Yeah sure, why not? Even in a new town where absolutely no one knows her, every one still sees her as that freak girl. Well screw all of them. She didn't care if everyone thought she was a freak, a geek, a nerd or weird because she didn't care. She _was_ weird, her whole life was weird. But what right did dopey little Scott have to judge her.

Sure, she had her opinions of people, but she kept them to herself most of the time. If Stiles asked her what she thought of Scott, she would smile and tell him that he seemed nice. She wouldn't tell him that she thought he was a dope and that maybe he took too many Lacrosse balls to the head or maybe got tackled too hard during practices. She wasn't gonna say that she didn't think 'dopey Scott' was the whole picture. She wasn't going to do this because she liked to think that she was a nice freaking person and nice people don't need to gossip behind others' backs!

Of course, as Faith liked to point out, only a loser would have that perspective and she guessed she accepted that gracefully. It obviously didn't matter where she was, she was always going to be weird and unpopular. She liked herself well enough, how come no one else seemed to like her? She didn't really think she was all that bad. Ok yeah, there was that one time where she accidentally trapped everyone in the house because she wished everyone would stop leaving her, but she was understandably upset.

She saw her phone light up with a text message and pushed aside her hurt. Faith was on her way and she wanted Dawn ready and outside in ten minutes. Another quick brush through of her hair and a quick choice of sunglasses was enough to get ready for her and she slipped on a pair of sandals, grabbing her purse and heading for the door. It must have been 'leaving time' because she met up with Stiles and Scott in the entrance hallway.

“Oh hey,” she said casually, watching as Scott's entire body tensed and relaxed within a split second. There was really something not right about him, she thought. Then again, she kinda felt like she was gonna start seeing Hellmouthy symptoms in everyone.

“Dawn!” Stiles lit up with a smile. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, eying the window to see if she could spot Faith's car.

“Scott mentioned he ran into you this morning,” he tried to draw her into conversation once more. Dawn could feel the tension thicken between the three of them and she turned to look at her cousin with a tight smile.

“I caught him just as he was about to sneak into your room,” she agreed.

“I wish you would have stopped him, he scared the crap out of me,” Stiles muttered, casting a dark look to his best friend. Scott smiled obliviously and shrugged.

“Sorry,” she responded glibly.

“You don't sound very sorry,” he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.

“Ok, sorry I'm not sorry,” was her retort.

He stared at her through narrowed eyes for a moment before clasping his hands together. “So I hear you're cooking dinner for me tonight,” he changed the topic with lightening speed.

“It's only fair, you cooked for us last night,” Dawn pointed out. “I'm pretty good with chicken. Just be glad I'm out of my experimental food phase.”

“Some experiments are doomed before they ever begin,” Stiles nodded solemnly.

“See? I said the same thing. It must be hereditary,” she laughed.

“My mom used to say that,” Stiles gave a nostalgic sort of smile.

“Maybe that's where I got it,” she 'hmm'd thoughtfully, giving a genuine smile to her cousin and nearly completely forgetting that Scott was in the room. She heard a horn honk outside and then the blare of her text message in quick succession and started violently, nearly forgetting that she had been waiting on Faith. “Oops, gotta go, see you later Stiles!” she called out and waved sloppily before rushing out of the house, swinging her purse over her shoulder wildly.

She slid cleanly into the passenger seat of Faith's car and strapped herself in. “Finally,” Faith huffed, though not really angry.

“Have you felt anything weird in this town?” Dawn asked her, looking back at the house suspiciously before turning to face her Slayer.

Faith shrugged, “It's pretty quiet,” she responded, “Why?”

“My spidey-sense is tingling,” Dawn answered with a frown.

Faith 'hmm'd, looking thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe you just miss home?” She finally suggested. “Just...give it a bit, D, then if you still think something is really wrong, we'll look into it. Don’t try to drudge up a supernatural mess just because you miss the Hellmouth,” she pleaded.

“Of course not,” Dawn scoffed. “The last thing that I want is to spend the rest of my life terrified about getting thrown headfirst into another fight.”

“Well...it's a good thing that I decided to train you then, isn't it?” Faith grinned smugly. “B said no, said you weren't gonna be that kind of Watcher.”

“Did you laugh at her?” Dawn questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“She sets her dreams so high, it seems kinda cruel to crush them,” Faith gave a dramatically whimsical sigh. “I told her that you were gonna do whatever the hell you want to do because you're a grown ass woman and it's not like she gonna be around anyway.”

Dawn laughed loudly and shook her head. Faith was so antagonistic, it was impossible to tell if she was joking or not. They rode in near silence to the dealership and it wasn't long before Dawn was leaving in her brand new (used) Toyota Corolla. She hadn't gone there looking for anything specific and she hadn't even really fell in love with the car, but it had been cheap and the owner had told her they were good for first time drivers. That was pretty much all she was looking for anyway. Dawn followed Faith back to her house, a small two bedroom split level. It was charming and it was something that she could really see Faith grow into.

The inside of the house was pre-decorated, Dawn could tell, because it was definitely not done in a style that represented Faith at all. As if reading her thoughts, Faith made a disgusted face at the living room and turned to face Dawn, splaying her arms out wide. “Welcome to Casa de Faith,” the young Slayer grinned. “As you can see, this house was most likely decorated by my highly out of the loop, 90 year old Nana,” she picked a crocheted blanket off the back of the couch and wrinkled her nose at it. “Who even does this anymore?”

Dawn giggled to herself and flopped down on the couch. “I think it's nice,” Dawn argued, “It's comfortable and warm. It's...lived in, I guess,” she shrugged. “Like coming home.”

“Technically,” Faith muttered as she stared around the house with narrowed eyes. “So how did your first night go?”

“Ok I guess, I had a mini-freak out when I woke up and Buffy wasn't there,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Guess that's the one good thing about living alone now...no one witnesses my freak-outs,” the Slayer returned the sheepish smile and sighed. “Well aren't we just a pair?”

“Maybe it'll be good for us here. You know...give us time to heal, or whatever. Not physically, but emotionally. Just start fresh. Tabula Rasa.” she added.

Faith looked up sharply, “What did you say? Did you just do something? That sounded like Latin,” she accused.

Dawn widened her eyes for a moment, shaking her head rapidly. “I didn't do anything!” she insisted. “I mean, yeah it's a spell, but I've been on the receiving end of that particular brand of suck and let me tell you, thinking my name could possible be Umad cause I was looking at my necklace upside down is possibly the stupidest I'll ever get,” she chuckled.

“What?”

“Buffy thought her name was Joan.”

“What?”

“Willow did a spell,” Dawn clarified, “she wanted to wipe out some specific memories, and ended up wiping ALL of our memories. It was horrible.”

“But you didn't just do that spell?” Faith insisted.

“No,” she laughed in response. “Tabula Rasa is a theory by John Locke stating that at birth, the mind is a blank canvas to be imprinted on. In working theory, it means that if you start new around people that have never even met you, you can pretty much be anyone you want to be.”

Faith was silent at this and then nodded in affirmation, silently telling Dawn she liked that statement and agreed with it. They sat together in comfortable silence for awhile while Dawn examined the room around her. There was a very sturdy looking wooden coffee table in front of her, and she could already imagine a huge stack of heavy books on them, papers spread out and a doughnut box hovering just near the edge, ready to fall off...

She stopped her mind there. That would never happen because they were on a supernatural diet. There would be no research parties with endless amounts of junk food and 3am weapon training just because books got boring. Dawn wasn't sure why but she was acutely starting to miss that part of her life. In Sunnydale, it had been easy to complain about wanting a normal life because there was no such thing as a normal life in Sunnydale. Hell, she didn't think any of her friends would survive a normal life, they wouldn't know how to. Yet here she was, looking in the face of bleak normality and she was actually hoping that a pack of nomad vamps got drawn here by the Slayer energy. That said a lot about her, she thought, and obviously she needed mental help on an epic scale.

It had been nice though, back when it was just the Scoobies, everyone working in tandem, taking shifts on research. Obviously during the day they'd all research together, at least it always started that way, then by the middle of the night everyone was starting to wear and tear. Some always volunteered to keep researching, not as tired as everyone else, which gave the others the opportunity to rest. This, of course, would continue until they'd found the answer. Those sugar fueled nights were, honestly, something that Dawn always looked forward to. Not only was it research but it was also bonding time with her family. She could tell you, truly, that people said the most honest things at 3am.

Maybe that was what she missed the most. Not the demons, or the Apocalypses; but the bonding time she spent with her family every time a new baddie showed up. That totally made more sense (and made her feel better about her mental state). Most likely because it had just been a recent development this past year that she was even allowed to be involved in the first place. Her first all night research session had been the source of much amusement and a long lecture from Giles about drooling on 15th century literature. Yeah, she definitely missed those days, right before everything started rolling down hill at an increasing pace.

Life in Beacon Hills was going to be better though, she told herself, instead of researching demons, she'd now be able to research school projects she hadn't had time for, before. She could have her own all night study sessions, maybe she could coerce someone into joining her for them. Now was the time to be optimistic, not depressed; think of the future, not dwell on the past; all of those old cliches. She was glad that school was going to start soon, she would welcome the distraction. It was going to take her awhile to get used to being in a brand new town, full of brand new people. She was just kinda hoping that all of them weren't like Scott.


	4. Little Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn has been in Beacon Hills for a week and now it's time for the first day of school! Once everyone's all together though...it's hard not to notice little things that feel weird.

The rest of the week went by relatively quickly in much of the same pattern. Either Dawn or Stiles would make breakfast, depending on who got up first, sometimes Uncle John would join them, sometimes he would already be at work or sleeping off a late shift. Scott was always there. He was there for breakfast, he was there for dinner and when he wasn't there, he and Stiles were off doing something else. At least she assumed Stiles was with Scott, she'd never really seen him hang around anyone else. Though she _did_ remember hearing Stiles complaining about Scott only hanging around for the food, cause he sure hadn't seen him any _other_ time.

“Maybe he likes you,” Stiles said the before school, when she’d mentioned Scott while they were lounging in his room. Both had laptops open, Stiles looking up random topics and Dawn instant messaging her sister.

“Who?” Dawn asked distractedly, looking up to meet her cousins gaze from where she was laying on his bed. Obviously he couldn’t mean Scott; Scott barely even tolerated her.  

“Scott,” Stiles clarified, like she knew he would. She scowled at him. “I know he broke up with Allison a couple months ago and apparently she was the love of his life, but maybe he's got a thing for you.”

“On what level of logic does that even exist?” Dawn arched an eyebrow.

“None. None levels,” he answered seriously and sighed “but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Maybe he likes watching you eat?” she suggested pointedly.

Stiles frowned, thinking about it seriously. “Nah, that'd be weird.”

“Yeah… _that_ would be weird,” she rolled her eyes at him, writing a reply down to her sister at the same time. “To be honest, I don't think Scott likes me all that much,” she told him.

Stiles froze for a split second and Dawn swore that if she had super hearing, like her sister, that she'd be able to hear his heart stuttering in his chest. “He doesn't _not_ like you,” Stiles defended weakly. “You're just new,” he assured.

“I'm a stick figure with big blue eyes, it's not like I'm gonna rip your throat out in your sleep,” she laughed mildly. It was the ease of a Sunnydale joke slipping through her lips. She knew Stiles wouldn’t understand the significance behind it, but she still thought it was funny.  

Stiles chuckled anxiously and Dawn caught him swallowing heavily out of the corner of her eye. What a weird reaction to a joke. “Nah. That'd be weird,” he murmured.

They fell silent again after that, both content to turn their attentions back to their laptops instead of the awkwardness that had just sprung up between the two of them. Dawn liked to think that she was more attuned to weirdness, having been created from a Slayer on the _Hellmouth_. All she'd ever consciously known was the Hellmouth and the supernatural. It was in her blood. So yeah, she felt like maybe she was just a little more sensitive to the supernatural than most and she definitely thought something was quite off about Beacon Hills.

Of course it wasn't long before Stiles was breaking the silence again. “You know, I'm really glad you're here,” he told her. “At first I was afraid it was gonna be weird and awkward cause even if you’re family, I didn’t know you, you know?” He shrugged twitchily. “But, it wasn’t like that. We kinda clicked and it just felt like family and I’m just glad you decided to stay here. I like feeling like we’re friends already.”  

“We were born friends,” Dawn joked reflexively, floundering for a moment in surprise. There were so many emotions swelling in her heart right now, it was a little overwhelming. “I'm very...family oriented,” she said, getting serious and sitting up. “Not all of my family is blood though. I was just...so tired of being abandoned. First my dad walked out, then my sister ran away from home and that was a really big mess that was hard to get over. When my mom died, I panicked. Shortly after that, my sister...” she was about to say _died_ but obviously Stiles wouldn't understand that. They'd used the Buffybot to make sure no one found out Buffy wasn't around. “She got pretty distant after mom died and then she went through a pretty big depression where she pushed everyone away and pretty much made me feel like being around me was the worst thing ever. Then my friend Tara got shot through our window and died in our upstairs bedroom. That was...I found the body,” she swallowed heavily, feeling the tears fill up her eyes. “But just this past year I...I lost a lot of people I cared about when Sunnydale went under.”

“Wow...” Stiles was leaning forward limply, his jaw hanging slack and his eyes pained.

“So yeah, I tend to cling to what connections I have, considering they all seem to keep disappearing rapidly,” the words tasted bitter in her mouth and she bet they sounded bitter as well.

Stiles eyed her with a new sense of understanding and she felt really bad. She hadn't meant to unleash that torrential downpour of 'here's my life'. She'd been doing that a lot lately though. Spewing out her feelings like a leaky fountain. It was a mess all over the place. That was no way to go through life, barfing your feelings all over anyone who looked remotely interested. She needed Stiles to think that she was sane. It was pretty much fundamental for their co-existence.

“Oh god, I'm sorry, I'm such a tool. I keep telling myself not to just blurt out all of my emotional baggage, but it's all pretty raw right now,” her voice quieted. “My best friend went down with Sunnydale. I mean...he was my best friend, I wasn't his or anything. He was completely in love with my sister and I...I just felt safe with him. I knew that he knew if he hurt me, Buffy would kill him and then we really start talking and really started bonding. I liked him the best. Everyone else just seemed to tolerate him, really,” she sighed wistfully. “My mom liked him though, he used to come by when he was sad just to talk to her. She'd make him hot chocolate and put little marshmallows in it and I'd sit on the top steps and listen to him vent. He was British so I think she just did it to here him talk, honestly,” she giggled and blinked rapidly, only just realizing that she'd started to tear up. Stiles was frozen and Dawn couldn't help but berate herself because _she was still doing it_. “Oh my god, I'm stopping, I swear,” she promised.

“You're a very open person,” Stiles noted after a moment of silence.

“It's a major personality flaw,” Dawn grimaced with an apologetic look.

“I don't mind, it's refreshing. Everyone I know is like...allergic to actually expressing themselves,” he snorted derisively. “It kinda makes me feel more comfortable. Like I can be more open too, so thanks for that anyway,” he smiled at her.

“I'm a mess, a train-wrecked mess,” she smiled in a self-deprecating manner. _And in no way am I being completely honest with you_ , she tacked on to herself, feeling a gross sort of guilt twisting in her stomach.

“You've been through...a lot,” Stiles exhaled heavily. “It just puts things in perspective for me.”

“Well yeah... I am, tragically, a worse case scenario,” Dawn remarked flippantly.

He didn't comment. She was grateful that he respected that and didn't pry. It was just...in the middle of a war, there's no chance to pause and grieve. You can't drop your sword and cry when your friend falls dead. Plus, leading up to a battle? Forget about it, everything's so tense and so muted and so wound tight that if anyone were to give into their emotions for even a second, the tide would turn. She had spent years pushing all of her feelings to the back of her mind, to be dealt with in private. Unfortunately, private was a word that didn't exist in the Summers household the previous year. Getting a five minute cry in the shower while she was washing up was the best she'd ever gotten and none of it had felt good at all.

Still, Stiles could never keep quiet for long, like he was reading her thoughts. “Have you grieved yet?” he asked quietly.

Dawn swallowed heavily and shook her head. “No. I don't even know how to anymore. I feel sad, I feel hurt, I feel anger, I feel so much all at the same time but it's like...I've blocked it all up, you know? I know the feelings are there, I can feel like...echo's of them, but they're behind a locked door and they're not coming out. So yeah? I guess I've dealt with it?”

“Yeah sure, that sounds healthy,” he remarked casually, arching both eyebrows at her. There was a long, pregnant pause before Stiles leaned forward, not quite meeting her gaze. “I was pretty much numb after mom's funeral. I cried a lot, at first, both in the hospital and in the cemetery but it was like...as soon as they lowered the coffin, I was done. I could even function after that and Dad had to herd me toward the car like a sheep,” he grimaced with pain at the memory. “I spent the next two days in bed, staring at my ceiling. I didn't eat anything, I slept a lot, turned my phone off. I was so out of touch with myself, my own emotions and my own surroundings, I just didn't even care.”

Dawn lowered her eyes to her hands and sighed heavily. “It sucks having to go through that,” she frowned, “especially the hospital part.”

Stiles nodded, but didn't expand on the topic. Both of their mother's being very sore spots for both of them and they both knew that opening that particular can of worms right now was a bad idea. Dawn only liked to talk about the good memories of her mom, those didn't bother her at all. Like the memories of Spike and her mom or the memories of being called 'Lil' Punkin Belly'. She held onto those memories tightly and used them as a shield to block out all of the bad memories of the hospital and the tumor and the cemetery.

After that emotional conversation, talking pretty much quieted between the two of them as they went back to what they were doing. Dawn explained her conversation to Buffy and her sister expressed sympathy at only being able to give Stiles half-truths. It wasn't long after that, Dawn was yawning and closing her laptop, bidding Stiles goodnight and heading across the hall to her own room to get ready for bed.

Silently, she padded around the room, getting her pajamas. When she had gotten stripped down to her undergarments and started taking her bra off, something flashing across the window caught her eye. Dropping her hands, she frowned and grabbed her robe, sliding it around her shoulders snugly and moving cautiously towards the pane of glass.

She wasn't really sure what she'd thought she'd seen, but it had definitely been fast and if she hadn't been so used to preternatural speeds, she probably would have never caught it. Still, there had been an unmistakable flash across her window. Her breath caught in her chest, heart thumping painfully against her ribcage and in her ears as she slowly and stiffly reached for the window above her bed. Her eyes were scrabbling all over the place, looking for any sign of movement, anything that would suggest what had made that shadow. She didn't see anything, not even the wind was moving the trees. _Maybe it was nothing_ , she reasoned, _headlights from the street_. There was no way she was opening that window and sticking her head out. She wasn't stupid. Obviously whatever it was, if it had been anything, wasn't planning on coming in and she was definitely not going to go _looking for it_. If it had even really been anything to begin with. Still… maybe she'd mention it to Faith the next day.

Slowly, she removed the robe from her shoulders again, casting a last suspicious look at the window before slipping her pajamas on and climbing into bed. She gazed surreptitiously around the room, feeling faintly on edge. “It's nothing,” she told herself firmly. It still took a couple minutes for her to convince herself to reach over and turn off the light. Even after the light was off, she found herself staring into the darkness, straining her eyes at the window above her head. She couldn't see anything besides moonlight. No matter how hard she tried though, she couldn't make herself fall asleep; she could still hear her heart pumping in her ears.

Dawn contemplated just calling Faith outright and telling her, just so she could get some sleep, but Faith was determined to start living a life free from the supernatural. At least for a little while, she didn't want to ruin that. Though if there was something hanging around this town, they were gonna have to get involved whether Faith wanted to or not, such is the price of being a Watcher-Slayer combo package. She could hardly imagine it in a small, Pleasantville town like Beacon Hills but then again, who would have ever thought that _Sunnydale_ was on top of the mouth to hell? Dawn had come to learn to take outer appearances with a grain of salt. What you saw on the outside was rarely what you ever got on the inside. That was pretty much her life motto. Unless it was a Apocalyptic Demon, none of them ever looked pleasant, and none of them were. Ever. Those beasts were pretty straight forward. Very 'point and kill' types. Those were the kinds she didn't want to stop and get to know better. You know, the ones that were trying to sacrifice her or eat her or torture her...yeah, she lived a totally normal, totally healthy life.

It took Dawn hours before she was able to drift off uncomfortably. She tossed and turned until a knock on her door pulled her awake with a gasp. “Uh...it's almost time for school,” Stiles said gruffly from the other side of the door. “Don't want to be late for the first day.”

“Thanks!” she called out and hopped out of the bed with a spike of fear. _Shit, it's the first day of school and I look like a freaking zombie!_

She took a moment to pause in front of the full length mirror in her closet. Her hair was knotted wildly on one side of her head, there were dark circles under her eyes and a crust of drool forming on her cheek. She wiped off her face disgustedly and muttered nonsense under her breath as she grabbed a brush and began the task of untangling the nest on her head. Sighing with resignation, she set about gathering stuff for the bathroom, knowing she didn't have time for a shower before class. Her and Stiles shuffled past each other in the hallway, each grunting out a greeting.

Stiles had his toothbrush in his mouth and only one of his shoes on.

Dawn entered the bathroom, and kicked the door shut behind her, dropping her accessories on the counter top. First she started with her teeth, then her face; washing it, drying it and applying concealer under her eyes. A full year of maybe 4 hours of sleep a night (if she was lucky and it was a quiet night), gave her the edge on not getting a good night’s sleep, she'd be able to run for hours on this. She then did a light spattering of make-up. Eyeliner, light blush and sparkling dark cherry lip gloss.

Twirling a couple pieces of hair around her fingers, she then pinned them to the back of her head with beaded spirals. She fixed her jewelry and ducked back into her room to finish getting dressed. She remembered, clearly, going shopping with her sister over the summer. They had created an entirely new 'impress Beacon Hills' wardrobe with the allowance that Giles had given them from Council funds. Dawn took it for what it was, a bribe. As always, though, it was a damn good bribe and she accepted it. She even got the high heels she wanted; not that she needed the added height, really. Still, she felt confident and sexy in her low cut top and tight skinny jeans. Just as she was slipping her boots on, another knock came at her door.

“Come in!” she called.

“Ah good, you're almost ready,” Stiles grinned at her, “I wanted you to follow me to school today, so I can introduce you and show you around.”

“I dunno...” Dawn trailed off playfully, giving him a haughty once over. “You're kind of a geek.”

“I am the _best_ geek,” Stiles corrected, sounded highly offended.

She snorted and let out a giggle. “You're the best,” she agreed and hopped up, grabbing her bag from the floor (that had been packed ever since the summer...so she may have been a geek too...).

When they reached the school; a place Dawn felt confident that she could find on her own; they pulled into adjacent parking spaces and entered the school together. There were already hordes of students milling about the hallways and Dawn knew she was going to have to search to even really find her locker, which she’d gotten on her schedule. Stiles followed quietly as she looked, pointing out classrooms and the various horrors within.

When she did, finally, find her locker, she was relieved to find that no one was blocking her way. That made it so much easier to deposit all the stuff she didn't want to carry around on the first day. Stiles, bless him, was being as patient as possible, but he just couldn't hold it in anymore when he spotted Lydia.

“Lydia!” he shouted, waving her over wildly. She hesitated a couple of seconds before shrugging and sauntered over with a bright, only slightly forced, smile.

“Hello,” she greeted primly.

“This is my cousin,” Stiles pointed at her.

Dawn rolled her eyes and stuck out her hand. “I'm Dawn,” she said.

“Hmm, Dawn,” Lydia eyed her over critically. “Where are you from?”

“Hmm well...Los Angeles, but then Sunnydale...but then Los Angeles again,” she answered with consideration.

“Obviously,” she seemed to be talking more to herself. “That is a gorgeous top, it's nice to see someone with a little fashion sense around here...and related to Stiles, no less,” she shot him a smug grin.

“I am the height of fashion,” he responded, entirely unfazed.

Dawn wasn't sure how to handle this entirely Cordelia-esque person standing in front of her. Clearly there was a friendship, albeit a shaky one, between her cousin and Lydia, but she wasn't sure if she was seeing 'Xander-Cordy' friendship or 'Cordy-Oz' friendship. Still, Dawn's first instinct was to be polite, so she went with it.

“I have to admit, I did a little cathartic shopping in LA after Sunnydale went down,” Dawn replied with a smile.

“Thankfully you guys made it out safely, cause I heard there wasn’t very much warning,” she scoffed incredulously.

“Yeah,” Dawn nodded, letting her mouth get the better of her once again, “we were the last bus out, the ground was literally crumbling behind us.”

“What?!” Stiles yelped, eyes bugging out as he caught her arm in a death grip. “You never said that!”

“Are you kidding me? You think I would tell _that_ to Uncle John? You're the one forcing carrots down his throat to save his heart!” Dawn shot him an incredulous look.

Slowly, Stiles let go of her arm, patting it lightly as he let it drop to her side. “Right, you're right. Of course you're right. Never tell that story to my dad. Still, you could have told _me_ ,” he sulked.

“I guess I just don't really like to think about it,” she shrugged.

“Lydia,” a tall, muscular blonde with piercing blue eyes stepped close and wrapped his arms around the girl's waist. Dawn started with surprise and tried to breath through her nose to calm her racing heart. She hadn’t even heard him walk up! “Stiles,” he greeted stiffly and then flicked his eyes over to Dawn, tensing ever so slightly. “Who's this?” he demanded.

 _Did his eyes just glow? No...that'd be weird. I could have sworn…_ Dawn's mind was rushing a mile a minute as panic flashed through her. That was also weird. This dude wasn't particularly terrifying; maybe supernaturally good-looking, but that was it. She'd seen scarier things in her old high school and that included before the Hellmouth started acting up. Still, she felt threatened.

“My name is Dawn,” she answered, straightening her shoulders and refusing to be intimidated. “I'm Stiles' cousin.”

“Oh,” he relaxed immediately. “Sorry, you just...” he tossed Stiles some kind of meaningful look, “you don't look like Stiles, I guess.” he finally finished, returning his gaze to her at the last second.

“Thanks?” she internally folded in on herself. She shouldn't feel bad, though, she guessed. Stiles didn't want her to like Jackson anyway and this was obviously Jackson.

“So, what were you guys talking about?” he asked, leaning against Lydia's side, casually.

Lydia smiled up at him brightly, “Oh just about Dawn and her impeccable fashion from LA and her adventurous escape from collapsing Sunnydale,” she answered.

Jackson's eyebrows lifted, impressed, but he didn't say anything. Scott chose that moment to bound over like a happy puppy, a mile wide grin on his face. “Hey guys!” he greeted, “Dawn,” he turned to her as well.

Dawn felt like it was a verbal back-hand. Pointing out, rather obviously, that she wasn't apart of their stupid group and she was merely shadowing Stiles until she found her own friends. “Scott,” she replied, voice monotone. He smiled hesitantly, but quickly turned his attention to Jackson, who looked like he'd rather be talking to a cactus that was actively stabbing him in the eyes.

She wanted to say something, to feel even a little included, but she couldn't think of a single thing to say. _How do you even start a conversation? Oh my god, how do I have a conversation that doesn't involve demons? SAY SOMETHING!_ Her brain was panicking. The little brain minions were running around, throwing files and pressing little red buttons, screaming while sirens wailed in the background. She was going on full spastic, social meltdown. For the life of her, she couldn't think of a single coherent sentence and just shook her head at herself. She decided it was then that she should take her leave to class and muttered a quick 'bye' before taking off.

What the hell was her problem? It was like she'd never socialized before! Though...the only two friends she'd managed to make in Sunnydale happened because they had all been attacked by vengeful talisman spirits. That sort of experience brings people together. How in the world were you supposed to meet people normally? Guess there's no need for the Key to be a social butterfly, don't want anyone knowing who she is, right? Why give her that decidedly easier quality? Ugh. She hated monks and she was going to blame them for all of her personality flaws until the day she died.


	5. The Race

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn is steadily making her way through her first day of school one awkward class at a time. Life kinda sucks when it feels like everyone automatically hates you upon meeting you.

Dawn’s schedule and who she takes classes with:  
Spanish – Scott (Aidan)  
History – Isaac and Jackson  
Math – Jackson and Allison (Ethan)  
Art – Lydia and Isaac  
Lunch – Danny, Jackson and Lydia (Ethan and Aidan)  
AP Chemistry – Danny and Lydia (Aidan)  
Gym – Entire Junior Class  
English – Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Allison

\---  
Dawn's homeroom class looked to be devoid of all of Stiles' friends, which she was kind of grateful for. The last time she had felt that awkward was when she'd been forced to hang out with Buffy and _her_ friends. She had just pretty much been there, a wall ornament, and it sucked. She wasn't exactly hoping against all hope to relive that experience again. 

She'd, initially, come to Beacon Hills to become her own person, not to be the extension of someone else. Again. Still, she didn't feel all that surprised when someone slid in the seat next to her and snuck a quick peek. She assessed him from her peripheral vision quickly. He was pretty buff; had to play some kind of sport. He smelled especially nice and his clothes seemed to be specifically chosen to flaunt his, admittedly, alluring body. He was pretty tan, too, and she'd probably attribute that more to heritage than the California sun. He was also, tragically, gay and therefore not checking her out. Therefore, as far as the conclusion she had drawn, she was gonna say he knew Stiles.

She turned her full attention to him with a smile. “Hi, I'm Dawn,” she greeted him. “You must know Stiles.”

The boy opened his mouth to respond, but closed it quickly, furrowing his brow. “Smart must run in your family,” he finally remarked, looking vaguely impressed. “What gave me away?”

“The quick peek, I think,” Dawn remarked thoughtfully. “Since I kinda doubt you’re hitting on me, and if you are please don’t...the only logical conclusion is that you know Stiles and wanted to see the new addition to Beacon Hills.”

“Fair enough,” he answered, barely concealing a laugh. “I’m also gay, so you're not wrong. My name is Danny,” he added.

“So much sense,” Dawn muttered to herself, thinking about Stiles' own personal description of the boy in front of her.

“What?” he questioned with a frown.

“Oh nothing, I assumed you played a sport, but I recognize your name. Stiles mentioned you in his run down of people to talk to and Jackson was, grudgingly, on that list,” she told him with a giggle.

“I see,” he chuckled, “Stiles is...well...you know. Jackson's just...Jackson.”

“That was so enlightening. Thank you,” she snickered teasingly.

“So, he associated me through Jackson?” Danny arched an eyebrow.

“Well, through Lacrosse mostly...and the fact that you may or may not be attracted to him, but won't tell him,” the laughter in her voice was hard to ignore. Danny chuckled and rolled his eyes, but kept his smiling mouth shut and didn't seem at all inclined to tell her his preference for her cousin. There was a lull for a moment, but he was still smiling pleasantly and looking at her, so that was a good sign he wanted to continue conversing. “So...you're surprisingly normal,” she decided to mention, not meaning to sound quite as bitter as did, but smiled nonetheless.

“You're definitely related to Stilinski, those segues must be hereditary,” he laughed. “But...um...thank you?”

“I'm just saying, Scott and Jackson both acted like I was the antichrist when they met me. It was...well...awful, is the word I think I'll go for,” she told him lowly, her brow furrowed tightly as she thought back on her interactions.

Danny sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. “I can't really speak for Scott, cause I don't really hang out with him. He's Stiles' best friend though, maybe he thinks you're trying to steal Stiles' attention.”

“Nah, Scott's been studying all summer, I think,” Dawn frowned. “I think I heard Stiles say that. Don't get me wrong, he was literally over our house every day last week for dinner and even for breakfast, but they never really hung out around the house, so I dunno,” she shrugged.

Danny frowned but shrugged in response, contemplating his next thought. “Jackson's my best friend and he went through...a lot of stuff last year. I'm not really clear on all of it. He doesn't really like to talk about it; but the general gist is that some tried to kill him, and may have actually succeeded; at least for a couple of minutes. The doctor's, I guess, called it 'panic shock' but he woke up in the morgue and took off. I guess Stiles and Lydia found him in the warehouse district or something and brought him back.”

Dawn was floundering in surprise. She knew she was gaping but she couldn't help it. Her life was allowed to be dramatic, she was neck deep in the supernatural! When normal people's lives exuded drama, it was scary. She couldn't handle those kind of stories, they made her sick to her stomach. She liked the laws of the supernatural world. If it's trying to kill you, you try to kill it right back. That's it. That's how the world works. Don't expose yourself and survive. The End. Reality didn't follow that train of thinking at all and for good reason. It was like hearing about Warren all over again.

“Wow...” she finally said, shoulders sagging heavily. “I get it, he's amping the swagger until he feels more stable.”

Danny laughed. Outright laughed at her. “Jackson is an asshole. I've never met a bigger jerk than him.”

“Uh...isn't he your best friend?” Dawn was confused and it clearly showed.

“Yeah, of course he is. He's perfectly pleasant to me,” he shrugged, grinning teasingly.

Dawn let out a sharp, barking laugh and then giggled, covering her mouth and looking around the room to see how much attention she'd drawn to herself. Everyone else was still deeply involved in their own conversations. The teacher hadn't even bothered to call the classroom to order and was just seemingly waiting for the period to end. She was really enjoying her talk with Danny. Out of all of the people that she'd met, he was the only one that hadn't given off any kind of warning vibe. Maybe that was because, as he said, he wasn't very close with Stiles or Scott.

“You're pretty cool...for a Stilinski,” Danny nudged her shoulder. “I think you'll be just fine here.”

“Well as heartwarming as I'm sure that was meant to be, I'm not a Stilinski. I'm a Summers, but that's not where my cool comes from either. Me and Stiles get it from our mom's,” she smirked laughingly. She knew that probably wasn't true. She didn't even know if any of her mom's personality was embedded into her own, if the monks worked that intricately. She assumed, since she was made from Buffy and magic, that she'd at least have some of her family's traits. Seeing as how her and Stiles' were shockingly alike, it didn't seem unreasonable.

He chuckled in response and nodded in understanding. They slipped into casual conversation from there, she mentioned Sunnydale and talked a bit about her high school there. He mentioned lacrosse and how good some people on the team were, including Jackson and Scott. They talked all they way until the bell rang and they headed in different directions with a warm farewell and a promise to talk later. 

Dawn started up the stairs with an added spring in her step. That had been a really nice conversation with someone completely unaffiliated with anything supernatural. Not once had anyone mentioned a demon or various forms of dismemberment. Oddly enough, she felt entirely relaxed and strangely light. Happier, she guessed. How sad was it that it had taken her that long to identify the feeling? She frowned at herself, but refused to let the thought get her down. She wasn't going to sit around in the dark and brood like Angel.

Her next class, which was Spanish, a quick look at her schedule told her, had Scott in it. Just Scott. No Stiles buffer and, sadly, no Danny buffer. Dawn sat on the opposite side of the class as him and refused to even make eye contact. She could practically feel his tenseness all the way across the room and it was severely distracting. She tried desperately to keep her eyes on the teacher, who was merely talking about the syllabus and the course work. Absolutely nothing she really needed to pay attention to but it was suddenly the most fascinating thing ever. She was grateful when the bell rang and she was able to escape. Scott didn't even try to get her attention.

It wasn't until Lunch hour that she saw anyone she saw a friendly face again. Danny actually stood and waved her over to his table where Jackson and Lydia were perched, staring at him like he'd grown an extra head. Dawn felt a hot blush crawl up her neck and buzzing fill her head with embarrassment. People were starting to stare at her from other tables, curious about Danny's insistence. She kind of wished the floor would just open up and swallow her; she definitely wished that Danny would stop waving like she didn't see him. Steeling herself, she pushed her shoulders back, threw her head up and locked eyes with Danny, fighting down the redness in her cheeks as she walked over to the table.

“Hi, Dawn,” Danny smiled brightly and pulled out a seat for her.

“Such a gentleman,” she giggled, dropping her bag on the floor and setting down her tray of unappetizing cafeteria food. “Uh...hi guys, sorry to just drop in...” she added, looking between Jackson and Lydia. She had math with Jackson a couple periods before and Art with Lydia right before lunch. Neither had seemed particularly warm in class either.

“No problem,” Lydia smiled tightly, making it painfully obvious that it was forced.

Dawn swallowed heavily as she sat down, slowly casting a look to Danny for support. He cleared his throat and smiled so deeply that dimples suddenly sprung out on his cheeks. He looked positively cherubic and Jackson looked grudgingly willing to comply with whatever Danny was about to say, before he even said it. That was an impressive talent to have.

“This is Dawn,” Danny started off.

“Yeah, Stiles introduced us this morning,” Jackson grunted.

“She's in my homeroom and I'm pretty sure we're taking AP Chemistry together,” he continued to smile, like he was weaving some kind of spell. He wasn't; Dawn would have been able to sense the magic, but he was certainly doing something.

“Swell,” Lydia commented with another stretched smile.

Dawn felt a little choked. Lydia had been at least a little nice this morning when they had been introduced, she seemed genuinely interested in Dawn. This rather abrupt change left her feeling a little cold and anxious. Danny seemed to catch on to the frosty tone and frowned, casting his eyes down to his food. Dawn bit her lip and tried not to let it bother her. Danny was here and he seemed to like her well enough, she couldn't ask for more than that. Still, she couldn't deny the sting in the back of her throat.

“Yeah, it _is_ swell,” Danny finally answered. The silence had been fairly lengthy and Dawn had thought the conversation was over. It wasn't. Danny looked rather irritated. “I'm kind of tired of this whole elitist 'no one's good enough for Jackson/Lydia' attitude.”

“You are,” Jackson pointed out with a smile that showed all of his teeth. Dawn felt threatened but Danny smiled warmly.

“I thank my lucky stars every day,” he rolled his eyes so hard, she thought they might get stuck. “Seriously though, what's wrong with having friends? Lydia, you got along with Allison well enough when she first showed up,” Danny pointed out.

Lydia looked up with wide eyes, like a deer trapped in headlights. “Well...I...I know,” she hesitated. “I don't _not_ like Dawn,” she added defensively. “I guess I just don't know her yet.”

“Good, I like that answer,” Danny's very cherubic grin was back as he lulled them. “Jackson?” he questioned.

“I don't like anyone, you know that,” Jackson grumbled in response.

“You're so sweet,” Danny deadpanned. He turned back to Dawn with an easy smile and shrugged, motioning for her to join the conversation.

“It feels weird being back in school considering my last one collapsed,” Dawn remarked, feeling the pressure, again, to say _'anything'_. Having a conversation with Danny had been so easy when it had just been them. Danny winced, as though that had been the exact opposite of what he'd wanted her to say. Lydia and Jackson stared at her blankly. “Well the whole town collapsed, so of course the school did, too,” she added on, feeling her mouth moving with no way to control it.

Danny looked like he was regretting all of his life choices that led up to this moment. She didn't blame him; she was also regretting all of hers. Mostly she was regretting the fact that the monks had apparently imbibed her with Willow's random bad babbling. She couldn't have stopped her mouth even if she tried. As nervous and hyped up as she was, they were lucky she wasn't babbling at sonic speeds.

“It was pretty shoddy construction anyway, I mean, the bathroom floor collapsed the first day.” She laughed awkwardly, knowing no one was laughing with her. “I can't really say shoddy construction, I guess. My sister's friend led the team on the rebuild so I guess I have like some honor bound friend-code that says I absolutely have to agree that it was the single best craftsmanship ever.” _For the love of God, somebody stop me_ , she moaned internally, willing her mouth to just clamp closed and stay there.

“There were a million words in that sentence you didn't need,” Jackson groused, blinking dully at her.

“Verbose,” Lydia smirked at him. “It's good to be verbose, it means you're well rounded.”

“Bite me,” he replied, pulling a face.

“You, however, are not well rounded,” she turned her nose up and huffed.

“Nah, but you are,” he gave her such an indecent stare that Dawn could feel her face heat up again. Lydia practically melted against him, not that she blamed the girl.

“They're disgusting,” Danny commented casually, throwing one of his fries at the currently kissing couple.

“You're just mad you didn't get me first,” Jackson snorted, picking up one of his own fries and lobbing it back at Danny's head.

“I cry myself to sleep every night,” he answered dryly, as the fry bounced off his nose.

Dawn and Lydia giggled loudly and just like that, it seemed the ice had been broken. Lydia leaned forward and casually began seeking information on Sunnydale's collapse. Dawn made up as many plausible lies as she could think of and mostly just remarked with 'I didn't really pay attention to the news, I guess.' or 'it was weird'. People generally seemed to except 'I dunno, it was weird.' as a competent answer. At least in Sunnydale they did. Lydia, however, seemed rather suspicious and rather intrigued. Dawn was starting to feel nervous, remembering Stiles' description of the girl. Scary bitchy and scary smart. Jackson eyed her sideways and Dawn shrugged her shoulders again, uneasily.

She didn't get a chance to see Stiles until after lunch in gym class. It was a mass gym class, meaning the entire junior class was there. Stiles' attention on her was immediate as he demanded to be told all the details of her day and bemoaned the fact that they only had this and one other class together.

“I know,” Dawn sighed heavily, “But, I made a friend and we have three classes together,” she smiled proudly.

“Who?” he seemed excitedly intrigued.

“Danny,” she responded with a certain air of smugness.

“Oh man, I've been trying to get Danny to be my friend for ages...hey, ask him if he thinks I'm attractive to gay guys,” he told her, looking incredibly serious.

She snorted, taken back to her conversation with Danny. “Is that something we're worried about?” she wondered casually.

“I dunno, do you think gay guys find me attractive?” he asked.

“I don't personally know any...well...I suspected Spike for awhile and sometimes I think Oz would have definitely given the opportunity,” she shrugged and thought about it carefully. “Statistically speaking, however, you are adorable and gay men love adorable. So...yay you?”

Stiles pondered this for a moment. “I'm only adorable until I open my mouth, though,” he pointed out.

Dawn giggled at the innuendo and jumped to attention when Coach Finstock blew his whistle shrilly. “Alright class, listen up. It's the first day and I think we all know good and well by now what's on the syllabus. If you don't...too bad, I don't really care about that. Instead, we're gonna start with a stamina test!” He grinned manically and rubbed his hands together. “You're gonna run and you're not going to stop running until you die...or until the class ends, whatever happens first. Have fun and...go,” he started his stopwatch.

The class let out a collective groan, but started running anyway. Dawn, Stiles and Scott kept pace together, whilst Scott stared at the back of a dark brunette head that Dawn assumed must have been Allison since she was running with Lydia. Stiles hadn't said much of anything about Allison other than she was Lydia's best friend and Scott's ex. She got the impression that he didn't like her very much and that made her wary because Stiles wasn't the type to dislike without a reason, misguided as they may be. 

By the middle of the class period, several people had given up and Finstock was getting frustrated. Not enough people quitting life, she guessed. She kind of found him funny in a 'as long as it's not directed towards me' kind of way. He definitely didn't like some kid named Greenberg, who had given up twenty minutes in and had laid on the ground silently dying for the rest of the class.

“Alright, pick it up, move faster. If you don't move faster, you don't get any credit. Keep moving, keep moving! HUSTLE!” Finstock shouted, urging people along and waving his clipboard like a madman. “Greenburg, stop wheezing.” 

This was a breeze to Dawn. Slayer stamina was far superior and if she wanted to keep up with training, she was going to have to keep up with Slayers. She did the best that she could, but there would never be any way for her to match them. Still, she felt confident that she could outstrip a human in stamina any day. Putting a little more pressure on her legs, she picked up the pace and focused on regulating her breathing. She wasn't even winded yet. Scott pulled ahead of her slightly and she frowned at him, looking over to Stiles who was slightly red in the face. Stiles shrugged and motioned her ahead. Dawn sped up until she was in front of Scott. It didn't take a second before Scott was in front of her again. Frustrated and slightly angry, she pushed herself to get in front of him; he sped up so that she couldn't. He cast her back a challenging look, never breaking his stride and once more, she turned to Stiles who had started to fall behind. Stiles looked hesitant and slightly nervous, but grinned at her anyway and she smiled back.

Dawn turned her attention back to Scott and decided that she was going to put him in his place once and for all. She was going to show him that just because she was the 'new girl' or 'weird' or 'Stiles' cousin' didn't mean that she wasn't trustworthy or worth getting to know! All of the anger she had at thinking it was going to be different here in Beacon Hills, thinking she was finally going to find herself and her separate identity. No, apparently the monks had just made her a leech or some kind of parasite...or maybe they just didn't give her a personal identity. Maybe she was going to go through life, clinging to other people and their friends because she wouldn't survive on her own.

All of that injustice made her boil inside and she decided that Scott should know that she wasn't going to back down from a challenge. She narrowed her eyes and dug her toes into the ground, pushing herself to go as fast as she could. She blew past Scott, noting the surprised look on his face with smugness. It only lasted a couple of seconds though because pretty soon, it was Scott that was blowing past her. She stumbled with surprise, but caught her footing and tried to catch up. She had already pushed herself to the limit though, she couldn't go any faster and she was already starting to feel the burn in her muscles and the pull of a stitch in her side.

“Yeah, Dawn, go!” she heard Stiles shout from somewhere behind her, letting out a loud 'whoop'.

Encouraged, she gritted her teeth and kept going, eyes locked on Scott's frame in front of her. He wasn't slowing, he wasn't even panting and that was frustrating and slightly suspicious to Dawn. Then again, in Sunnydale she'd always been taught 'suspect everyone is something evil until they prove otherwise'. So, it wasn't like she had a healthy mindset when it came to assessing people anyway. She could feel the muscles in her legs wearing down, knew she would be exhausted when she was finished. She was starting to get spaghetti legs even as she tried to push herself forward to keep up. She wobbled and the unbalance was enough to send her crashing to the ground, panting and humiliated as she skittered across the ground.

Everything in the gym had fallen completely silent. It didn't take a bunch of logic for Dawn to figure out that everyone had stop to watch the two of them race. Her face was flaming hot and her heart was stuttering in her chest even as her breath hitched. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she firmly tried to push past her humiliation. She internally screamed at herself to get up, to brush it off and congratulate Scott. Be the bigger person. Her legs were sore, though, and she was already starting to feel it. Her legs protested before she'd even put any weight on them.

It was Scott, actually, who came over and held his hand out to her. She stared up at him silently, arguing with herself over whether she wanted to give into her petulant anger and refuse him or to accept the olive branch. After a few agonizing seconds of debate, she reached for his hand and let him pull her to her feet. He was deceptively strong and easily held most of her weight as she tried to keep her legs from jelly wobbling. He wasn't unnaturally cold or room temperature though, so that was a plus. Also, it was day...so he wasn't a vampire. Just a buff Lacrosse player.

“You ok?” he asked her, brows furrowed with concern.

“Yep, just lost all ability to control the muscles in my legs, that's all,” she grinned weakly and tried to laugh, but her humiliation was making that rather difficult. “Congrats, by the way, you're fast.”

He grinned at her brightly, like a happy puppy, and laughed. “Yeah,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “you're pretty fast too.”

“I worked very hard at being this fast,” she muttered, mostly to herself.

Stiles ran up to them and looked Dawn over carefully, with an incredibly critical eye. “You're dumb,” he finally said.

“Yes, I'm fine; thank you, Stiles. It's nice to know you really care,” she retorted drolly.

He pulled a face at her and then folded his arms, looking stern. “You should have stopped, you could have hurt yourself,” he tone was covered in disapproval.

Dawn pouted and sighed; shrugging at her cousin and testing her weight on her legs. They were still wobbly, but they felt like they would hold. She let go of Scott with another embarrassed smile and _did he really just sniff me?_ She thought wildly to herself. _Oh my God, I just got done running, I probably smell tragic right now. There's no way Stiles was right about Scott liking me. Plus...sniffing people is way creepy and not at all subtle. Maybe he just has allergies or something, he wasn't smelling me, he was just sniffling. That is totally plausible and makes sense; get a grip, Dawn,_ she chastised herself. 

She turned away, only to lock eyes with a pale, dark haired girl across the gym, staring at them sadly. It could have only been Allison, who's head she'd seen earlier, but had never gotten a good look at. Dawn noted that the tall brunette had doe eyes that rivaled even hers and that just didn't happen very often. Danny looked like he wanted to come over and say something, but Jackson pretty much held him back with a scowl.

Sighing heavily, Dawn took a tentative step forward. She winced as every muscle in her legs pulled tightly, but they held and she didn't fall over. She finally made it to the girls lockers room, rather slowly, and immediately headed for the showers. She wasn't the only one either because, obviously, no one likes to smell bad. She felt all of about five seconds of self consciousness before she stripped off her clothes and headed to an open shower head. After living in a house with over twenty girls for several months, she found that, after awhile, she just didn't care who walked in on her naked anymore. She'd been horribly embarrassed the first few times it had happened, but it just kept happening. Eventually, she just stopped caring. She didn't have the best body in the world, but she wasn't ashamed of it.

Her eyes stayed firmly locked on the wall the entire time she stood under the hot spray of the shower, feeling some of the tension in her legs ease even though she was still standing. She could only dream about the bath she'd take when she got back to the house. Finally, when she felt like she'd sufficiently removed the sweat stink from her skin, she shut off the shower head and got dressed. She quickly towel dried her hair and brushed it out, praying desperately that she wasn't going to be late for her next class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first wrote this I was not prepared for a friendship between Danny and Dawn, but it happened and I love it. It won't actually progress into a full blown friendship til later though.


	6. The Birds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a productive gym class comes English class. 3x01 compliant. Dawn feels like she just stepped into an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how much I'll take directly from the show, probably only as much as necessary to further the plot, but this chapter is 3x01 compliant and has some direct quotes from the episode.

English was Dawn's next class period and she was glad that Stiles and Scott were waiting for her when she exited the girls' locker room. She wasn't sure she'd be able to make it there on her own and they both had that class next, as well. As she walked, she grumbled about being sleepy and sore; but mostly about how much Scott sucked. Scott merely grinned at her and turned to look at Stiles with an even more pointed grin. Almost as if to say _'look, we're getting along, isn't that neat?'_. Stiles offered an obviously disinterested smile back and then rolled his eyes in Dawn's direction. She giggled and stretched out her legs as she walked, feeling the muscles attempting to bunch up on her.

“I miss my sister,” she pouted heavily as she slunk into the English classroom and dropped into a seat. Stiles took the one behind her, leaving Scott to sit in the one beside Stiles.

“Pfft, what for, when you have us?” Stiles asked, sounding vaguely offended.

“Buffy was great at getting knots out of tight muscles. She did a lot of running and eventually she let me start running with her. I probably wouldn't have survived if she hadn't been there to stop my legs from falling off,” she sighed dramatically. 

The half-truths always fell much easier from Dawn's lips then they ever had with anyone else. Willow had always stuttered and mumbled her lies; Xander had shifty eyes; Buffy just wasn't good at thinking on her feet. Not Dawn, though, she was always the one to jump in with a smooth lie when it was needed. She liked to think that the monks gave her that ability as a little fail safe.

“Somehow I think you'll survive,” Stiles mocked.

She groaned, dropping her head backward onto his desk so she could glare at him upside down. He patted her on the forehead and smirked. “I hate you,” she groused.

“You can't hate me, I'm family,” he scoffed. “Get your head off my desk or I'll drop my books on your face.”

“Why are you so mean to me?” She sulked and bullied her body into sitting up straight again. She then set about getting her materials out for class. Her book, notebook and a wooden number two pencil; because mechanical pencils couldn't double as weapons in case of an emergency, as Willow had told her. 

When Lydia walked in the room, followed by Allison, Dawn smiled slightly and waved. Lydia returned her smile gracefully and took the seat next to Stiles. This left Allison to take the only seat available in front of Scott, next to Dawn. She watched as Allison argued with Lydia through facial expression for a moment, before smiling awkwardly and lowering herself into the seat. 

Scott looked at though she'd just popped out of his birthday cake.

Allison was diligently trying to not look at him though and smiled at Dawn. “Hi, I'm Allison,” she introduced herself determinedly, holding her hand out.

Dawn accepted it with a smile. “I'm Dawn,” she responded pleasantly, “Stiles' cousin.”

“Oh, I didn't know that,” she seemed perturbed for a moment. “Do...do you live with Stiles?”

Dawn blustered for a moment; _that was a bit personal_ , she thought. “Uh...yeah,” she muttered, feeling her hackles rise, “just until High School's over, though,” she added, not really understanding why she was getting defensive over it. It had just been a question after all, but it had sounded more like an accusation.

“Right,” Allison nodded and Dawn didn't know whether she was being sarcastic or agreeable.

“Dawn's my cousin on my mom's side,” Stiles jump in, as though he felt like Allison might have been implying something. “She lived in Sunnydale and now she doesn't because there is no Sunnydale.”

Her mouth widened into an 'O' of surprise and understanding. “Oh, of course, that was really big on the news almost the entire summer,” her eyes widened momentarily. “I'm so sorry that happened to you, that must have been really scary.”

Dawn didn't know how to respond to that because, no, it hadn't really been scary at all. Watching that town go down had been a rather numbing experience. She'd lost Spike, Anya, her mother's grave and Tara's grave all in one fell swoop and it felt kind of like being punched in the soul, if her soul had been in her diaphragm. It had left her breathless and her emotions aching. Still, there was no time to stop and feel it, they had to drive on, they had to take care of the wounded, they had to start making plans. It was never-ending, never any time to stop and feel anything; besides terror and that deep, soul-clenching ache. 

Her face must have been twisted rather oddly because she felt Stiles' hand clasp her shoulder, bringing her mind back to the present and offering comfort for the obviously distressed look on her face. She looked at him with a small, grateful smile, and turned back to her desk; eyes on her notebook.

She was confused when her phone signaled a text message, she was even more confused when everyone else's did too. Cautiously, she pulled her phone out and check her text, praying it wasn't going to be some stupid Pretty Little Liars bullshit. It wasn't, it was a passage from Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness. Just as her eyes began scanning it, the teacher walked in, reading it out loud.

“'The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.' This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone,” she told them with a wide smile. The class grumbled, but moved to turn their phones off. Dawn shot off a quick, pre-programmed text to Faith saying 'Phone shut off, don't panic' and turned hers off as well.

As the teacher began discussing Joseph Conrad and the basic premise of 'Heart Of Darkness', Dawn felt her mind wander. She'd read that story so many time she could probably recite most of it. She'd even done a report on it in junior high. Just as she found herself doodling little vampires in the corner of her notebook, however, the principal was pulling the door open and telling the teacher that Scott's mom needed him right away. The entire class watched Scott rise to his feet and the teacher followed him out, closing the door behind her.

"I wonder what that's about," Dawn wondered, noting Stiles' worried frown.

"It must be important if his mom wants him," Stiles answered quietly as Miss Blake walked back in the classroom and shot a look around quickly, lips pulled back into a wide smile. Dawn felt a chill trail down her spine and shook it off quickly. That was weird. She could hear her cousin continuously grousing underneath his breath about how bored he was and how Heart Of Darkness was hardly Junior material.

"Let's get back to it, shall we?" Miss Blake asked brightly.

Dawn frowned, feeling her eyes narrow curiously. The focus of her life for the past year had been 'trust your instincts, know who has the power'. Constantly. That was all that had been hammered into her head over and over again. The stake is not the power. Recognizing power, now that was a lot harder. Dawn wouldn't say that she had a particularly good 'sense' of power; but she certainly knew when she felt a pull of _something_. Maybe it was residual Sunnydale tension where most of the time the teachers were trying to kill you, or crush your spirit. She was probably a third listening to Miss Blake, a third listening to Stiles and Lydia whisper behind her and a third totally drifting off into LaLa land; because seriously, Heart of Darkness. 

Dawn had enough pride to admit she yelped loudly when the first bird slammed into the window. Instead of focusing on the smear of blood left behind, however, her eyes were focused on the growing cloud of birds flying closer. She had barely enough time to scramble out of her desk and flip it over, before several more thunks against the window sounded. 

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Ms. Blake yelled yelled loudly.

The glass in one of the windows shattered, which startled everyone into action and panic. Stiles launched himself out of his desk, knocking it aside to pull Lydia to the ground to half cover her with his body so the birds couldn't peck her. He locked wide eyes with Dawn and pulled Lydia sideways a bit so he could get closer to her. Dawn was using the thick english textbook as a shield and a weapon to protect herself from the frantically pecking birds.

Dawn lifted herself up to chance a peek at the window; who the hell thought a wall of windows was a good idea to have in a classroom? It didn't take long for the birds to hit and finish shattering the glass and this time they all poured in, attacking students left and right. 

First to draw her attention was Lydia screaming, and then Stiles yelling. She was next to them in a second, trying to fight of the small group of birds that had come over to try and peck them apart. The first bird, she nailed in the head with her book and it fell to the ground, unmoving. The second bird, she threw her book at because it was flying too erratically for her to hit. It dodged and flew off to bother someone else. The third bird, had Lydia by the hair and was, apparently, trying to tug it out. It bit Stiles bloody everytime he tried to swat it.

"Damnit!," she hissed, looking around wildly for a solution. 

She zeroed in on her supplies on the floor and picked up her pencil with little hesitation, jamming it straight through the heart of the bird. It died immediately, hitting the floor with a hollow 'plop'; blood pooling on the floor around it.

"Oh my god," Stiles muttered blankly, staring at the bird.

The chaos died down pretty quickly after that. The crazy birds had either calmed down and flew off or died trying. Students were beginning to pick themselves, and their friends, up. Some were crying, others were assessing the amount of damage done by the birds. Stiles and Lydia were still staring at the dead bird on the ground, pencil sticking out of its chest. 

"You killed it," Lydia whispered, shocked.

"Yeah, I think I killed a couple of them," Dawn frowned worriedly, looking around. Several birds had their head bashed in from her textbook, but there were no clues as to _why_ they’d all gone insane.

"You stabbed it with your pencil!" Stiles gaped at her incredulously.

"It was trying to scalp Lydia! Excuse me for being proactive," she huffed angrily and bent over to examine the bird.

Honestly, she was more proud of the fact that her pencil was lodged directly into the center of the chest. That obviously said something morbidly creepy about her life. The bird was absolutely disgusting. All of it’s feathers were soaked and stringy with blood, the pencil wood was stained red and soaking it up. The puddle underneath was thick and dark, a testament to how fast it had bled out. Thank god vampires turned to dust when you stake them, because that mess was something that was not easily explainable. At all. That much was obvious by the way people were staring at her, some fearfully, some respectfully.

"What the hell was that?" Allison frowned heavily, staring at the broken and blood stained window.

"I have no idea," Stiles shook his head, slightly dazed.

"Massive bird Asylum break?" Dawn suggested sarcastically, righting her desk and picking up her textbook.

"Why are the animals being so weird?" Lydia hissed accusingly at Stiles.

That made Dawn pause for a moment. "Animals?" she lifted an eyebrow, intrigued.

Stiles looked sheepish and slightly pale at the same time. "before I got home last night, me and Scott ran into Lydia and Allison at the red light...then a Buck ran head on into Lydia's car. Lydia's parked car, I might add."

Said strawberry blonde wrinkled her nose in disgust. "The damage was atrocious," she informed them.

"That's weird," she agreed vaguely, all the while her mind racing. That _was_ weird. She didn’t know if it counted as supernaturally weird or not, but two crazy animals in as many days couldn't be just a coincidence. She firmly did not believe in coincidences...or leprechauns; her sister taught her that. Everything else was fair game, but coincidences and leprechauns was where she drew the line.

It didn't take long for her Uncle John and his deputies to arrive in the classroom. Dawn was shocked for a couple seconds before she remembered that Beacon Hills actually had a competent police force, unlike Sunnydale. He offered her an exasperated half-smile before making his way over to the three of them. “Stiles, Dawn, girls,” he greeted them, squeezing Dawn's shoulder affectionately.

“Hi, Sheriff.”

“Hi, Mr. Stilinski”

“Hey, Dad.”

Dawn smiled at him in greeting and then gestured around the room casually. “This happen a lot?” She wondered teasingly.

Her uncle chuckled tiredly and shook his head. “Welcome to Beacon Hills,” he replied, just as sarcastically. “I bet this is what you wanted on your first day, huh?”

“Always,” she nodded firmly. “Crazy birds are like...on my top five things of favorites.”

“I raised Stiles, so you're probably not joking,” he turned a teasing look to his son, who looked mock-offended.

“I'll have you know that crazy birds are highly entertaining _and_ interesting,” Stiles defended.

“Maybe when they're not trying to peel the flesh off your body,” Lydia pointed out with a dark grumble.

“Alright, so who wants to tell me what happened?” John demanded, all business and serious again.

All three of them looked at each other, unsure of how to explain. Stiles tried. “Well...we were sitting here talking… _listening_...we were listening to Miss Blake and then just...bang...out of nowhere a bird just splatters into the window like a bug on a windshield.”

“Ew,” Lydia wrinkled her nose again.

“Yeah and then right afterward it was like a whole flock of them just came right for us. They broke through the windows and attacked the students.” Allison looked around the room, gaze lingering on those who were trying to stem blood flow and crying.

“Dawn killed one with a pencil,” Stiles pointed at her, immediately throwing her under the bus.

Dawn shot him a betrayed look and turned a sheepish gaze to her uncle, who was staring at her incredulously. “It was attacking Lydia, I couldn't think of anything else to do,” she muttered, feeling her face flush. Luckily she was saved from further comment and discussion by a very suave, very new-Wesley-like older man. Allison smiled tightly in recognition and Dawn was kinda floored. “Is that your father?” she questioned, eyes wide.

Allison shot her a scandalized look, obviously recognizing her tone as one of appreciation. “Ew, gross,” she giggled.

“Girls,” he greeted Allison and Lydia with a warm smile. His eyes hardened on Stiles and then stared her down curiously. “Who's your new friend?” he questioned idly.

“This is Dawn,” Lydia smiled, “she's Stiles' cousin. She lived in Sunnydale before it collapsed,” she added, as if this was the most impressive fact about her.

If possible, Mr. Argent's eyes got even tighter and he smiled through his teeth at her. She felt the rolling waves of forced politeness. She had a sudden, chilling, feeling that he'd recognized the name Sunnydale...and not just as a city on a map. She swallowed heavily and tried to relax her face enough to smile, but she was almost positive that her stress level was maxed out at the moment. Maybe she was making a whole lot of something out of nothing, but she'd always been told; by several people; that she had very good instincts and she was prone to believe them. Right now her instincts were blaring the word 'danger' and 'warning' at her from all sides. She hated that feeling.

“Nice to meet you, Dawn,” she could have probably chipped an ice cube off of his tone.

“Likewise,” she answered agreeably. She couldn't help but notice that Stiles looked massively uncomfortable and worried. “If you'll excuse me, I have to make a phone call.” 

Dawn felt like she couldn't get away from that situation fast enough and hurriedly turned her phone on so that she could call Faith. Several text message poured onto her screen rapidly.

“Call me when you turn your phone on.”  
“DAMNIT DAWN”  
“TURN YOUR PHONE ON!”  
“UGH FUCK!”

Dawn couldn't help but giggle quietly, but when the voicemails started pouring in, she really did have to protest. She held the button and waited for the voice to begin. “You have four unheard messages, first unheard message:

“Dawn, I just got pecked the fuck up by a bird, which is now dead. Something doesn't feel good, anymore, be careful.”   
"What the fuck is going on, Dawn? Turn your phone back on, is something happening at the school?”  
“Come on, Dawn, seriously,” her voice was starting to get very angry. “I need to know what's happening, where the hell did all of those birds come from?”  
“Please call me so I know you're alright.”  
End of messages. To erase messag-” She ended the call and quickly dialed Faith, praying that she picked up quickly.

“Dawn!” The relief in her voice was evident. “What. The. Fuck?”

“Faith, can you come get me? I think I'm a little too shaky to drive home,” she confessed, “I'll explain everything in the car.”

“I'll be there in less than five minutes,” she promised without question, hanging up the phone.

Dawn smiled gratefully to herself and turned back to the room, Stiles was lounging on a desk next to his dad who was talking to Miss Blake. Allison and Lydia were huddled around Mr. Argent. 

Feeling the continuous, rapid, beat of her heart in both her chest and ears, she made her way over to her Uncle. He offered her another smile, but she was hardly able to return it without taking her focus off of her calm exterior. She had to remain together until Faith got there. John squeezed her shoulder as she approached and she appreciated the gesture.

“Faith is gonna come pick me up,” Dawn told him, feeling her hands shake. _Not here,_ she told herself firmly. _You’re not going to do this here._

He looked her over briefly and nodded. “Sure, I guess I can be lenient for today,” he told her, bringing her attention around to the fact that he was still in charge. 

She frowned apologetically, feeling a blossom of guilt her stomach for not thinking about asking permission before she did anything. That was going to be difficult to remember. She'd never really bothered or had to ask permission for too much in the past year. Obviously there was a lot she was going to have to adjust to in the coming months (or even years, really). 

“Thanks, Uncle John,” the tenseness in her face relaxed slightly as she smiled at him.


	7. Magical Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Dawn leaves the school with Faith, they decide to head back to the Stilinski house so Dawn can do a spell to locate the supernatural energy around town. Also bears more information about Dawn's role as the Key.

Relief flooded Dawn’s system when she saw the familiar wave of Faith’s dark brown hair enter the classroom. All eyes turned toward her and Faith’s eyebrows shot up with amusement as she slid through the crowd easily and over to Dawn. “All good, Lil Sis?” she looked the lithe brunette over critically. 

Dawn already felt the ball of tension in her chest start to ease at the sight of Faith, her Slayer and the only piece of home she had left. She felt like she could breathe just a little bit easier when the older girl greeted her uncle with a genuine smile and thanked him for letting her pick Dawn up, cause the girl was ‘seriously freaked’. Uncle John nodded with a worried frown, brow furrowed. 

She didn’t say another word as she let Faith lead her from the room, but she was keenly aware of Lydia questioning Stiles insistently on who Faith was and why Dawn was allowed to leave with her. Honestly, she was too amped with anxious, jittery energy to care. No matter how much she bemoaned in her mind that she missed the wild Sunnydale life, it always seemed to mean nothing when it actually started happening. She had yet to calm her racing heart, feeling dizzy the entire trek to her car. 

Faith didn’t even ask for the keys, just fished them out of Dawn’s bag and shoved her into the passenger seat. They drove in contemplative silence while Dawn tried forcibly to get her trembling hands under control. She’d faced Turok-Hans. Literally stared them in the face and hadn’t crapped herself in fear or ran the other way. Angry birds weren’t exactly high on her terror list, but considering the apocalyptic connotations it carried, she was more than a little nervous. 

“So...what the fuck, D?” Faith demanded several minutes into the drive, once Dawn had started breathing some what normally again. “Are you okay?” 

“I kind of feel like we got here just before shit hit the fan,” Dawn admitted, wrapping her arms around her middle. The birds had left her feeling very unbalanced. 

“Yeah?” Faith arched an eyebrow, looking perturbed. 

Several more moments of silence seemed to stretch forever as the Slayer contemplated this. Dawn didn’t say anything, she looked out of the window and let her mind wander back to her arrival and anything she’d seen that didn’t feel right to her. She’d told herself repeatedly that she was just being paranoid, that nothing was going on in quiet little Beacon Hills and she needed to get her mental health status checked. She didn’t know how she felt about actually being right. Not that they knew that for sure, but it sure as hell was starting to feel that way. 

“Okay,” Faith broke the silence, finally. “ _If_ something supernatural is going down then we’re in. We have to be. That is literally our job.” 

Dawn’s mouth twitched into a small smile. “Yeah, but not really. Remember Buffy said we all have a choice.”

“You really think you could keep yourself out of a fight if you knew it was going down and people were gonna get hurt?” Faith scoffed, arching an incredulous brow. Dawn shook her head slowly. “Yeah, well, me neither.” 

“It doesn’t seem like we really get a choice sometimes…” Dawn murmured, looking up at the sky accusingly for a moment and silently cursing the PTB. 

It wasn’t something she really liked to think about, ever. Mostly because it gave her a headache and led Willow into long, theoretical discussions on fate and destiny and free will. She wasn't sure why she just assumed they'd stopped being pawns after Sunnydale collapsed. She wasn't sure why she hadn't looked at her move, with Faith, to Beacon Hills as one of those coincidences that she didn't believe in. She thought back to her pure ignorance of a couple days previous and could have laughed at herself. Making all those plans for how bored she was going to be. Yeah right. 

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves,” Dawn murmured. “We’re so ready to go up in arms against something and we have no idea if there’s even something,” she pointed out.

“So we get proof then,” Faith shrugged, eyes staring steadily out of the front windshield. “Better to be prepared than to be surprised.” 

Dawn nodded and thought deeply as they pulled into the driveway of the Stilinski house. She hadn’t done any magic when she’d arrived in town a week ago. Honestly, she hadn’t wanted to know if there was anything besides them that was supernatural. They were taking a break from all that and this was supposed to be a quiet, unassuming little town. She knew how much bull that was because _Sunnydale_ was a quiet, unassuming little town and it had been the mouth to hell. Still, she’d kept to herself and hadn’t stirred the pot, knowing she could pinpoint the bad and good energy in the town, even vaguely, with a spell. 

Buffy didn’t like it when Dawn did magic, but they both knew her irritation was pointless because Dawn _was_ magic. She was made from it and she was a vessel _containing_ it. Pure, green, magical energy. Still, Dawn was only human and the Key was as old as time, maybe older. Her body couldn’t handle the ancient magic of the Key and so, when the Monks had made her, they’d installed a sort of ‘dam’, keeping the magic back. 

This was completely useless in ever protecting herself, as they soon found out when she, as a 14 year old girl, was forced to stare a hell goddess right in the face and could do literally nothing about it. She’d been defenseless. That ritual, however, had started creating what Giles called ‘fissures’ in the dam containing her magic. Magic just started _happening_ around her, mostly during highly intense emotional moments. So they researched some more.

Eventually Willow had come to the conclusion, after literally months of researching, that if Dawn continued to use magic, especially powerful magic, her dam would break and her body would be flooded with the Key’s power. The most likely outcome of that would be that her human body would be vaporized and the Key would be released...and she’d create an explosion that would kill everyone in a very wide radius. That was not something she wanted to ever happen...ever. So she pretty much limited her magic to ‘only when desperately necessary’. The bit of magic that she could actually control anyway. 

She spent nearly a year after that learning how to control her emotions and keep her magic dammed up when she was emotionally out of control. She had a decent enough handle on it by the time the Turok-Han showed up, but not enough. Even if no one else had known, or seen, or paid attention: Dawn had been unintentionally protecting herself with magic for months, every time she was in danger. She knew it was making the fissures deeper, she knew it was dangerous, but she was too scared to tell anyone. Too scared of the reprimand or taking the focus off the battle. She wasn’t going to be the reason people got killed. 

“You gonna get out of the car or just stare at the house?” Faith prompted with a knowing look. 

“Huh?” Dawn shook her head to clear it and focused her attention on the Slayer. 

“We’re here,” Faith pointed out, motioning around her at the familiar surroundings. “You have to get out of the car now so we can go inside.” 

“Oh right.” Dawn took a deep breath, steeling herself before she unbuckled her seatbelt and started opening the car door. 

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Faith reminded her seriously. “We both know what the consequence is and I’m not gonna force you into that.” 

“I know.” 

“You’re still going to do it though?”

“Yeah…” 

Thankfully the Sheriff had either gone back to the station, or was still at the school, because he wasn’t home. Stiles wasn’t either and there was only a limited time until the school day actually ended and he’d be back. It had to be now. Quickly, they entered the house and climbed the stairs two at a time to Dawn’s room. Her legs twinged under the strain but she wasted little time in diving under the bed to pull out her small truck of supplies. 

First she set up the map, which was just a Welcome to Beacon Hills brochure that her uncle had picked up at the station. She followed it with the crystals in the corners and the candles, then the sand. Her and Faith shared a long, significant look before she was ready to throw caution to the wind, literally, and do her spell. 

"Thespia, we walk in shadow, walk in blindness. You are the protector of the night. Thespia, goddess, ruler of all darkness - we implore you - open a window to the world of the underbeing. With your knowledge, may we go in safety. With your grace, may we speak of your benevolence.” Dawn intoned gently, clutching a fistful of sand. She took a deep breath and blew the sand onto the map, feeling the pull inside her body. A mist began to hover over the map, glowing brilliantly. “Okay, this is me and you,” she said, pointing to a bright green and pale red presence.

“Wow, look at all this,” Faith hissed, staring down at the basic map, which was seemingly lit up everywhere with different colors. 

“All of it seems peaceful enough,” Dawn remarked, looking over the map critically. “Here is some hazy grey in the woods and in the industrial district. I can’t tell what they are specifically though.”

“Peaceful or not… I wasn’t expecting all of _this_ to be _here_.” Faith muttered with a frown, motioning towards the map. “I feel like we’ve been extremely underprepared.”

“Hmm, I wonder if this is how Buffy felt when we moved to Sunnydale,” Dawn mused curiously. “She didn’t have a witch to tell her where all the bad stuff was, back then, though.” 

“Can you tell what the different colored dots mean?” Faith asked. 

“No, not yet, but I do know that the lighter colored dots are peaceful and the darker the dot the more evil it is,” Dawn replied, casting her eyes over the map. 

There were several golden dots moving around the map. There was a neon red dot somewhere on the west side of town. There was even a blue dot wandering amongst some of the gold. However, what caught her attention the most, was the muddy red mist that seemed to be hanging over part of the downtown area. She had no idea what it meant, but it seemed ominous. It looked like blood. 

“So what do we do with this information?” Faith finally asked after she’d seemingly burned a picture of the map into her mind. 

“I dunno… I guess we start down town?” Dawn suggested. “I think I can make it so these dots burn themselves into the map, but it’s not a very good map.” 

“Then don’t bother,” Faith waved off the suggestion. “We’ll get a better map later, I think I could find the general area.”

“Well what are we -” 

Her thought process was cut short as a knock sounded at her door. Her concentration broke immediately and the spell dissipated, the sand scattering on the carpet. 

“One minute!” she practically yelped, her voice strangled. She blew the candles out quickly and gathered up the entire mess of item in an armful and dumped them into the trunk, closing the lid and shoving it as hard as she could so that it shot underneath the bed. She threw her body down over the mess of colored sand on the carpet and tried to fix her wild hair, “Come in!” she called. 

Stiles opened the door and stepped inside, eyeing the two of them curiously and taking an extra moment to observe their disheveled appearances. Dawn was praying he didn’t see the sand she was laying on. He just seemed confused. “ Um… I just wanted to make sure you were okay, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he mumbled, eyes darting between the two of the them before his cheeks stained pink and he backed out the door. “I’m gonna go hang out with Scott and Isaac, though, so… yeah. I’ll see you later Dawn. Bye, Faith!” he called over his shoulder as he practically ran down the stairs and out the front door. 

“What the hell…?” Dawn blinked rapidly at her still open door, trying to process the complete weirdness of her cousin. 

Faith howled with laughter and nearly fell off the bed, startling Dawn. “He thinks we were having sex,” she choked out, trying to gain control of her amusement. “Did you see the look on his face?” she dissolved into laughter again. “He is so precious.” 

“Stop it,” Dawn warned. “If you break my cousin I will frown.” 

Faith laughed again. “I’m not gonna even touch your cousin, Dawnie. High school boys don’t really do it for me.” 

“...You think he thought we were having sex?” she widened her eyes in surprise and looked stunned. “Do you think he’d tell Uncle John?” 

“I think your Uncle John is already suspicious,” Faith snickered heavily. “I mean...come on, D, what 22 year old girl moves to a brand new town with her 17 year old BFF?”

“Stranger things have happened,” Dawn muttered, flushing dark red. 

“I think we probably should have just done this at my house and avoided almost getting walked in on, regardless,” Faith winked at her. 

“Oh my god,” Dawn muttered, darkening further. “Stop it or my head is going to explode.” 

Faith cackled maniacally and reached under the bed to pull the trunk out. “Take what you need for emergencies and then we’ll take this to my house. It’ll be safer there.” 

“Obviously,” Dawn huffed anxiously and extracted a couple crystals, the twice blessed sand and the map. “Just in case,” she muttered when Fatih gave her a critical look. 

“Play it easy with the magic, D… we don’t know what’s gonna be the final straw.” 

“I know that!” Dawn snapped, feeling a burning sensation start fanning in her chest. She sucked in a deep breath and dispelled it quickly, focusing her emotions and forcing herself to remain in control.

“It’s already getting worse.” Faith’s voice wasn’t judging, just resigned. “We cracked it further, didn’t we?” 

“I don’t know,” Dawn murmured, turning away from Faith to put up the things she’d taken from the trunk. “Does it matter? I mean… I know it matters but it’s just going to keep happening. Eventually the dam is going to break no matter what. It’s just a question of when and if we can contain me in time,” she scoffed. 

“Eventually, but sooner if you use magic,” Faith pointed out, hefting up the heavy trunk with one arm and headed for the door. “Also, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Stiles telling his dad anything. I don’t think he’d want you in trouble.” 

“Good, because Uncle John would call Buffy and I think Buffy would flip.”

“Buffy would think it was hilarious,” Faith snorted. “She knows I’m not gonna have sex with you.”

“Oh gee thanks,” Dawn scoffed. “I’m highly attractive, you’d be lucky to have sex with me.” 

“I would break you.” 

Dawn thought about it for a moment and giggled. “Yeah, but what a way to go, right?” she joked, echoing her cousin. Faith chucked a book over her head and aimed it at Dawn. She dodged it with a laugh and picked it up off the ground. “This is 15th century, you can’t just throw it around all willy-nilly,” she scolded lightly. 

“I’m not even sure who’s the biggest, baddest influence on you anymore,” Faith snickered. 

When they arrived at Faith's house, Dawn allowed the Slayer to carry the trunk up to the spare bedroom. She settled herself down on the couch and began thinking of anything she might have seen since coming to Beacon Hills. The only thing was that shadow that darted across her window the previous night; she totally forgotten to even mention that to Faith. 

She didn't have much to go on really. Just that the boys she met were pretty hostile. She got a weird vibe from Scott and an even weirder vibe from Jackson. She was almost positive she'd seen his eyes glowing earlier in the day. Danny was, honestly, the only person she felt 'normal' vibes from. _Oh my god, what if Danny is the only human I've met!_ , she sat up straight, eyes going wide. _No...no, Stiles is definitely human_ , she conceded. _There's no way he's not involved in some way though._ Unless...unless he’d managed to surround himself with supernatural creatures and just literally had no idea.

Stiles was smart, maybe even smarter than she was. Dawn had known about Buffy since Buffy had known about being the Slayer. Obviously that was something that the monks had made up, but she knew they'd done it to create that bond between the two of them. Still, if ten year old her could figure out Buffy had changed; she was positive that Stiles would have been clued in to all of his friends' weird behaviors. He just _had_ to know. She couldn't even think of what the alternative meant, should he ever find out.

Faith came back down the stairs, dusting her hands off with a smirk and leaned over the back of the couch to put her face right next to Dawn's. “Are you ready to start training?” she questioned lightly.

A wide smile broke out on her face and she hopped off the couch as quickly as she could. “Hell yeah,” she agreed. Hopefully it would be enough to take her mind off of everything else.


	8. A Day In the Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look through a complete second school day for Dawn as she realizes how incredibly vigilant Stiles' friends are being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My chapters are wordy and sometimes nothing happens. There are a couple more chapters between now and the second episode and then there will probably more filler chapters in between other episodes lol This is gonna be a slow build story because I like focusing on interactions, no matter how small. I write to build on character, I guess, not plot.

The next morning Dawn didn’t even bother hanging around her locker with Stiles. There was a definite want to not repeat the previous day. She bade him goodbye at his locker and made her way to her first-period class and waited for it to start. Her mind churned like it was preparing her. She eyed the windows in the classroom, even though they weren’t quite as big as the ones in the English room. She was on edge, expecting a new surprise by the minute. Honestly, she had no idea what to expect. 

Walls dripping blood and a rain of frogs most likely.

She snorted to herself and drew a couple frogs in puddles on her notebook while she passed the time. It wasn’t much longer until Scott was strolling in with a relaxed and easygoing smile. She tensed immediately and knew he noticed, she could see it written on his face. Instead of taking the furthest seat away from her and glowering, however, he slid into the seat next to her and leaned over to whisper a greeting.

“Hey,” she returned the greeting, only hesitating for a moment. She was going to be cautious, but that was no reason she couldn't get along with Stiles' best friend.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them, neither knowing what to say without Stiles to buffer. “So... Are you any good at Spanish?” he asked, trying to break the silence and draw her into conversation. Whether it was to feel her out or out of genuine interest, Dawn wasn’t sure. 

She smiled with enthusiasm anyway. “I've never taken any formal classes, but I can order from Taco Bell like a pro and I love Salsa music.” Dawn shrugged, keeping her voice low as though she were divulging her deepest secret. 

Scott snorted and shook his head at her. “Oh good, you know about as much as I do then,” he grumbled, trying to hide a grin.

The class was starting out on the simplest level and the teacher was going through it like she was talking to toddlers instead of teenagers. Dawn had the good grace to admit that she still understood maybe half of it. How was it so easy to translate ancient languages and fail so miserably at trying to learn and new one? Maybe she could only learn languages if she was teaching herself or translating. Whatever the reason, all was not well in the Spanish - land. She was more than a little distracted by Scott muttering broken, mispronounced words over and over.

When class ended, Dawn focused her attention on the homework paper full of beginner words and phrases. She heard Scott’s heavy, resigned sigh and knew he was looking over his own paper. She looked up to meet his gaze and he pouted at her. Legit pouted at her with his bottom lip jutted out and everything. She giggled at him and rolled her eyes. Okay, so maybe Scott McCall was adorable and trying extra hard to be friendly with her. Probably to make up for being a raging dick when he first met her. Also probably under the orders of Stiles, but she didn’t really care about that part.

“This totally sucks,” Scott groaned. “I don’t know what half of this says and I’m only mildly confident about the rest of them.”

Dawn hummed in agreement and flicked her gaze over her own paper with a frown. With her knowledge of dead languages, it wouldn’t be _too_ hard to figure out. Still, Scott didn’t know that and he was trying so she could too. “Good point,” she conceded. “Feel free to come over for dinner and help me study,” she joked.

“Who’s cooking?” Scott asked, perking up with interest.

“Ooh, maybe it can be a surprise,” Dawn grinned as the bell rang. She put her supplies away and shouldered her bag, heading for the door to the classroom. “Could be me, could be Stiles... Could even be Uncle John. Who knows?”

“You know,” he pointed out as they left the room.

“True, but you don’t,” she teased. “You’ll just have to come over for dinner and find out.” They rounded the corner, headed in the same direction. Dawn paused outside the History room with a grin. “This is my stop. Adios, Scott.” She mock saluted him and ducked into her classroom, tossing her bag down by the nearest middle row desk.

She took the empty classroom to her advantage to think calmly and rationally. Opening her notebook to a doodle page, she let her hand drift around while she thought. She poured over all the details she could remember since she’d arrived in Beacon Hills almost two weeks previous. Honestly, most of her days in the town hadn’t seemed real and so most of the details tended to blur into one another. She felt disconnected from it all. After all the trauma she’d faced growing up and just _existing_ in Sunnydale, quiet town life didn’t seem natural. Like it was something she was just dreaming up.

Dawn bullied her brain into focusing harder but knew she had no time for a systematic memory recall. She knew she had a talent for logic. Sometimes it took her a long, tangled route to get to the correct answer; but she always got there quick enough. This situation was particularly bewildering. It was like someone was flashing a neon sign in front of her face. Like... A neon sign that she couldn't read or anything. 

People started filling up the classroom at the last second before the bell rang. It took her that small jolt of reality to realize that not only was her mind moving, but her hand was also furiously scribbling on her paper. People were starting to stare... And judge.

She was already the freak that stabbed a bird with a pencil, she didn’t want to be the insane scribbler too. With effort, she tightened her grip on her pencil and stopped her hand. Feeling a thrill of apprehension, she looked over her sheet. It was a single symbol, the lines so dark that she'd definitely wasted half her pencil lead filling them in. She didn't recognize it, but that didn't mean anything. If she was drawing while she was daydreaming than it was definitely important. Like a message from the Powers or something. She'd have to look through her books later, but she was certain that she couldn't even begin guessing the origin. That was frustrating. Couldn't the Powers have added a little blurb underneath the symbol? It was like they did this shit on purpose.

“What’s that?” Jackson’s voice doused her like a bucket of ice water and she froze for a second before turning to face him.

“I forgot that you were in this class. You startled me,” she explained, noticing that he’d taken the seat beside her just as Scott had. Now she was just a little bit suspicious.

“Sorry.” He didn’t sound particularly sorry at all and she scowled at him. That caused a smirk to tilt his mouth. She hid her own smile in response. “So what is it? What does it mean?”

“Hmm? That?” She pointed to her notebook where the doodle was pretty much branded through several layers of paper. “I dunno. Nothing, I guess. I was just doodling shapes,” she told him, not knowing which lie he’d accept so just going for all them. He didn’t seem appeased and sulked back into his seat. Like he knew she was lying to him, even slightly, and was offended by it.

She didn’t feel surprised when a tall, curly haired boy entered the classroom after the bell rang and took the seat behind her. The teacher was at the board, writing notes and students took that as their cue to talk among themselves without reprimand. The boy behind her leaned forward and smiled. He showed most of his teeth, but unlike Jackson, she didn’t feel threatened. Just curious.

“Hi, you’re Dawn, right?” he questioned, lips quirking charmingly. She was immediately impressed that he hadn’t referred to her as ‘Stiles’ cousin’ and wondered if he’d planned that on purpose.

“Yep, that’s me. You must be Isaac; you’re the only one I haven’t meant,” she responded with a chuckle.

“I was hurt yesterday,” he said by way of explanation for his absence, not that she needed one. She was instantly suspicious of the way he said ‘hurt’, however, and wondered if he was part of it all as well. _How many are there that actually go to this school_? “I heard I missed you stabbing a bird with a pencil though,” he drew her attention back to him, eyebrows raised.

“Ah, the many adventures of me,” she grimaced. Of course Stiles probably told every single person he’d ever met about that incident.

“So I take it that Stiles told you about me, then?” Isaac questioned, arching an eyebrow.

Dawn was wary and very unsure what he was talking about. Did he think that Stiles told her that he wasn't human? Was Dawn _acting_ like he wasn't human? Was he even suspicious that she knew? _My head hurts_ , she grumbled to herself. “Yeah, he gave me a full rundown of, and I quote, everyone I need to know. Jackson and Danny even made the list. Though, I'm sure that Jackson only made it to the list so that Stiles could tell me to avoid him. Which I can't, by the way, because apparently Danny decided to keep me.”

“And Jackson is Danny's best friend,” Isaac finished with a chuckle.

“Yep,” she agreed smugly. “Stiles has been outvoted, now it's just up to Jackson not to completely make me hate him.”

“That won't take long. Spending five minutes alone with him should do it,” Isaac retorted, looking like he was only semi-joking.

“I’m still sitting right here, you dicks,” Jackson groused, his cheeks flushed red and his eyes bright with anger.

“Oh, but you know I love you, Jackson,” Isaac simpered with a grin.

Dawn giggled and jutted her lip out at the icy blond. “Don’t be mad, Jackson, you tried to eviscerate me with your eyes when we first met.”

“Yeah, guess I’ll just try harder next time.”

“The force is not strong with you,” Dawn snickered.

“You’re such a dork. Obviously you and Stilinski are completely related,” Jackson scoffed with narrowed eyes.

“You’re such a sweetheart. Face it, Jackson, the meaner you are, the more adorable you are,” she grinned at him.

He sputtered indignantly for a moment, glaring at her while Isaac belly-laughed behind her. They quieted when the teacher turned away from the board to stare at them with pursed lips. He made sure they were paying attention before turning around again.

“You don’t know me,” Jackson muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. She could have sworn he clenched his fists and tucked his hands up underneath his biceps. He looked ridiculously childish. 

“No, that's true, but I'm pretty good with first impressions,” she shrugged her shoulders. Figuring there was nothing left to say, she turned her attention to the front of the class as the teacher finished up his notes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched a paper ball- from Isaac, presumably- fly at the back of Jackson’s head hard enough, it left an indent in his hair gel and dropped to the desk. Jackson turned around with a dark glower and Dawn could swear his eyes were an even brighter shade of blue than they normally were. Not that she’d spent an absorbent amount of time staring at his eyes, they were just noticeable. Isaac must have been mouthing words or making faces at him, because a couple seconds later Jackson was turning back around and stretching his fingers out on top of his desk like the joints ached.

Dawn tried to pretend like she wasn’t noticing the interaction, that her focus was completely on copying notes. She stored every bit of it for later though, when she could sit and dissect all the information she could remember. Eventually, Jackson picked up his pencil as well and started scribbling, eyes focusing on the board every so often.

She was almost grateful when the class ended, but knew she’d be following Jackson into the Math room anyway. He seemed rather annoyed with her and was out of the classroom as soon as the bell sounded. She took her time gathering her supplies, feeling embarrassed and slightly stung. Isaac was taking longer to gather his things as well, like he was waiting for the opportunity to say something more to her.

Her heart leaped with wary anticipation, but she turned to face him with a raised eyebrow. Maybe he was going to offer her some kind of clue and take pity on her. Obviously, life was never that easy. “Stiles told us about you to,” he offered after they stood in silence for a moment.

It took a moment for Dawn to process his words, distracted, for a moment, by his face. She grimaced as his words sunk in. “He’s a very unreliable source; I was eleven the last time I saw him.”

Isaac finished doing up his bag and moved towards the door with a chuckle. He still wanted to say something, she could tell. It was written all over his face. “Funny, he never mentioned how pretty you are,” he finally smiled at her. It could have been taken as a joke. It was probably joke.

Dawn internally panicked for a second. _Is he flirting with me?_ she questioned herself. _Was that a jest? Is he jesting? Oh my god who uses the word jest, what is wrong with me?_. “I’ll have to ask him why that’s never the first thing he mentions,” she blurted out when she knew she had to say something. “The fact that he’s my cousin may or may not have something to do with that,” she added with a snicker.

Isaac chuckled in response and paused once again at the edge of the doorway. “You’re alright, Dawn. Don’t let assholes like Jackson upset you. Jackson doesn’t like anyone.”

“I’ve been told that, actually. By Danny. And by Jackson,” she huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes, zipping up her bag and heading out of the room with him. “And also by Stiles, and probably anyone that’s ever met Jackson,” she added.

“But?” he prompted.

“But he’s just a kid like the rest of us,” she shrugged again, this time with hesitance. “I dunno, I can’t see someone my age as all bad, all the time. I’d hate for someone to judge me without getting to know me first.” She felt like maybe the words were biting and that maybe he knew why, but he didn’t acknowledge them.

“Jackson doesn’t let people get to know him,” Isaac muttered.

“Danny and Lydia do,” Dawn pointed out.

“Good point,” he answered, instead of arguing like he clearly wanted to.

Obviously, Isaac had known Jackson longer than she had, considering she’d only known him for maybe 24 hours. She trusted her instincts more than she trusted most things, though. Once she actually started listening to her instincts instead of ignoring them for simple teenage rebellion, that is. Isaac spoke like someone that had a long history with the asshole side of Jackson Whittemore and that was too biased for her..

“More power to you if you actually get through to him,” he told her as they walked slowly down the hall together. “None of the rest of us can… more like none of the rest of us really want to try. Jackson was the school bully for a good long while before some shit happened to him and the only ragtag bunch of losers to take him were the very people he hated.”

“Sounds familiar,” Dawn actually laughed harder than she expected to. Maybe she’d been wrong; Lydia wasn’t the Cordelia-esque figure here, Jackson was. “It’ll work itself out,” she told him seriously.

He raised his eyebrows at her in disbelief. “Maybe,” he agreed, cocking his head to the side. “You must get your optimism from the Stiles side,” he told her with a warm chuckle.

“Maybe,” she echoed with another laugh, looking around the hall for her class. “Hey, I’m right here so I’ll bid you adieu and it was a lovely walk,” she grinned at him. “See ya later, Isaac.”

“Bye,” he responded with a slightly surprised half-smile.

There was no mistaking the fact that when he reached the end of the hall, he doubled back around the opposite way, like his class was on the other side. Like he’d walked the wrong way, on purpose, until she’d gotten to her class. She didn’t know whether that was creepy, suspicious, or adorable. The confusion didn’t feel good at all. Had he walked her to class to keep an eye on her? Had he even meant to walk with her to class? Maybe he just got distracted by them talking and kept walking with her. Her thoughts filled with wild logical and rational statements for what she’d just experienced. She was starting to become very aware of the fact that she had one of Stiles’ friends in all her classes. That thought didn’t settle well in her gut at the moment.

The math classroom hadn’t quite filled up yet but Jackson was sitting stiffly in a seat in the far corner of the room. He didn’t even acknowledge the fact that Dawn had walked in and so she took her cue to take the furthest seat from him. She ducked her head so that her hair curtained her face, shielding her from Jackson’s laser gaze. Her embarrassment at having absolutely zero boundaries and testing people’s limits constantly was palpable. It was another one of her personality flaws that she blamed on the Monks that had created her in a panic.

It was hard to pay attention in Math after that. She was too focused on thinking about both Jackson and Isaac and her interactions with each of them. She was startled to her core when the bell rang to signal the end of the class period. It hardly felt like any time had passed at all and she'd gotten very little figured out while lost in thought. The Math teacher gave her a reproving look as she left, obviously aware that Dawn had been less than attentive. It only added to her embarrassment.

She knew she had Art with Lydia next and left the classroom before Jackson, determined to not get followed to at least one class. Even without turning around she knew Jackson’s eyes were on her the entire way down the hall. Then up the stairwell. She knew full well that yesterday after math class, Jackson hadn’t come up the stairs with her. _You’re just being paranoid now,_ she told herself with conviction. _You don’t see every person that goes up and down stairs, he could have gone upstairs after you,_.

The feeling of being watched soon disappeared after she came within sight of the Art door. She felt only a vague jolt of surprise when she noted that Isaac was already sitting in the room. He didn’t seem surprised to see her at all.

“Hey,” he greeted with an easy smile.

She couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face as she returned his greeting and took a seat at his table, leaving a stool open between them. She was still wary and very, very suspicious of the super vigilant behavior she was starting to notice. Being that it was only the second day of school, it didn’t necessarily sit well in her stomach; which happened to be twisted in knots.

“So you’re taking Art, huh?” It was out of her mouth before she even realized it, or really even thought about it. She’d just wanted to make conversation; anything to cover up how anxious she actually felt. Now all she wanted to do was smack herself in the face. Best to keep a little dignity, though, she supposed.

“Maybe I just like the ambiance,” his lips twitched into an irritatingly satisfied smirk.

Her face and neck immediately flushed red. She was grateful for the distraction when Lydia walked into the room and dropped herself into the seat next to Dawn without hesitation.

“Who thought History first thing in the morning was a good idea?” she questioned with a groan, burying her face in her arms. “Seriously, it’s been like two classes since and I’m still in a coma. This school _needs_ a new, way more interesting, curriculum.”

“I had History second,” Dawn offered in commiseration. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t remember which notes I took.”

Lydia lifted her head and glared with no heat. “Great, now we can both fail together,” she grumbled.

Dawn rolled her eyes at the dramatic redhead. “Lydia, it’s the second day of school, we’re not going to fail History.”

When class actually started, they spent most of the time discussing physical exaggeration in artwork. Then they practiced on a piece of paper for the last fifteen minutes. Dawn would never claim to be the best artist ever, but she did enjoy drawing, even if it wasn’t any good. She particularly enjoying drawing a looney tune-esque wolf with huge heart shaped eyes pushed from his sockets and a mile long tongue lolling out of his mouth like a red carpet. She giggled to herself as she scribbled and wrote ‘a wooga wooga woo!’ in the corner, wrapping it in a speech bubble and aiming it at the wolf.

“What are you grinning about?” Lydia asked, taking a peek at her paper. Her eyes scanned quickly before she caught a laugh in her throat and bit her lip. “That’s good,” she remarked. “Look at this, Isaac.” Dawn couldn’t help but notice the pointed way she said Isaac’s name. Like she was about to share an inside joke with him.

“Hmm?” Isaac’s eyes darted up and away from his paper, obviously he’d heard his name, but nothing else. Lydia took Dawn’s finished drawing and shoved it across the table towards him with a deep-set smirk. Dawn flushed a dusky pink and glared at the redhead by her side. It was rude to share her artwork without asking. Isaac was smiling though, looking amused and he handed the paper back. “That’s really good,” he agreed, huffing out a laugh.

He caught Lydia’s eye and both their facial expressions changed minutely, like they were talking to each other through looks alone. “Am I missing an inside joke?” she asked, looking between the two of them.

 _These are the least subtle people in the word. Seriously, how do they even survive?_ she asked herself incredulously, attempting to keep her face neutral and impassive. If she hadn’t been at least initially suspicious in the beginning, she definitely would have been paranoid by now. All her cousin’s friends were acting like she couldn’t see them reacting around her. Still, they had to be doing _something_ right, because she had yet to figure out _what_ they were. Maybe they thought she was just as dangerous as she thought they were. This whole thing was starting to give her the wiggins.

“Isaac just really likes cartoons,” Lydia finally responded, dragging her eyes away from him so she could smile at Dawn. Dawn wasn’t an idiot, she could read the stress in Lydia’s voice.

Dawn thought there was a lot that you could feel through a person’s voice. It spoke about who they were as a person. Jackson's voice was always cold and clipped, much like his attitude towards people. Lydia's voice was a bit high strung and wispy, making it easy for Dawn to spot the obvious mask of indifference. She just... Understood people through their voices, she guessed. Maybe that was weird, but then again, she was always told she was weird, so why not just embrace it?

“Oh, that’s cool, me too,” Dawn accepted the deflection and let the two of them off the hook. Lydia was visibly relieved and her smile relaxed ever-so-slightly.

Dawn could practically feel her own brain frowning. She didn't _think_ her new friends were evil, but it was obvious that they were hiding something important. They weren’t giving off ‘end-of-the-world’ vibes at any rate. Just supernatural and dangerous. Maybe if she hadn't been hiding her own secret, she would have just asked them about it. It wasn't like she would willingly go around spilling the story of The Key, though. Why should she demand the same in return? She just hoped that they’d all be able to trust each other enough to spill it before it forced out to save the world.

She was grateful when the class drew to a close and the teacher collected their works, allowing Dawn to turn her attention towards packing up her bag. When she looked up again, Isaac was gone, but Lydia was standing there, waiting to go to lunch with her. Dawn was hoping this one was more friendly than follow-y.

They entered the cafeteria and took a seat at the table where Jackson and Danny were already sitting. Jackson pretty much ignored her the entire time they ate. That was alright because her attention was mostly taken up by Danny, who hadn’t seen her at all that day and wanted to catch up. He seemed so innocent and oblivious that she felt kinda bad that his best friend was a grumpy _something_.

After Lunch, Danny and Lydia both walked with her to AP Chemistry, the only class on her schedule she actually dreaded. Even after only one day. The teacher, Adrian Harris, was a giant, raging bag of dicks and she wanted to hit him. She wasn’t going, obviously, but she wanted to be able to. Stiles had told her that it was because of him that Harris was going to be mean to her, because he had some personal vendetta against the Stilinski’s. She may have suspected him of exaggerating. He wasn’t. Harris was a tool.

“We are going to pair up in class today,” Harris announced as the bell rang, even though the class wasn’t as full as it could have been. Danny, Lydia and Dawn eyed each other and turned to count heads in the room.

“I bet he’d let all three of us pair up,” Danny whispered.

“I certainly won’t, Mr. Mahealani,” Harris interrupted, coming to stand behind Dawn like an over imposing bat. He kinda reminded her of Snape from the Potter books. “Ms. Summers, you’ll collect your things and sit with Mr. Kettos. Now.”

Dawn scowled at him and picked up her bag, moving closer to the front to sit next to a boy she’d never met before. “Hi, I’m Dawn,” she introduced herself with a smile. Maybe a bit too wide, to show Harris she wasn’t as put out as she thought he was. She could adapt.

“Aiden,” he replied, turning to face her. As soon as they locked eyes, he stiffened, eyes narrowing into a dark glare.

 _Seriously, this one too?_ she questioned herself, caught off guard. So much for adapting and overcoming. This one didn’t seem as welcoming as Stiles’ friends and he definitely wasn’t on the rundown list of names. She remembered Aiden now from her Spanish class. She was also pretty sure he had an identical twin named Ethan who was in her math class. Given the evidence, Dawn could only assume Ethan was one of them, whatever they were, as well.

“Nice to meet you, Aiden,” she said finally, after a moments hesitation.

He didn’t answer her, he turned his glare to the front of the classroom where Harris was explaining the experiment they were about to do. Halfway through the lecture on chemical safety, Aiden stood swiftly, grabbed his bag and left the room with no explanation and no look back. Dawn turned to look over her shoulder at Lydia, who was frowning. The redhead shrugged in response to her incredulous look.

“Well… one down it seems. Would you like to pick off any of the other students, Ms. Summers?” Harris questioned with a sneer.

“I’d like _you_ to pick on someone else, Mr. Harris,” she responded through gritted teeth. Her neck and face flushed red at being called out on supposedly making Aiden leave.

“Detention, Ms. Summers,” he snapped. “I don’t know what you said to him, but it couldn’t have been nice if he had to leave to get away from you. I would have thought you’d try to _make_ friends being that you’re new to this town.”

“I said 'Hi' to him,” Dawn scoffed. “I wasn’t aware how offensive that was. Sorry, my bad, I won’t greet anyone else,” she sneered, the sarcasm dripping from her words. Everyone’s eyes were on her, she could feel it. It was only increasing the rush of blood to her head. She was starting to feel lightheaded and hyper aware of her surroundings. 

She was also incapable of shutting her mouth off.

“That’s a second detention, Ms. Summers. Your attitude is not called for,” Harris narrowed his eyes on her.

“Yeah, well, I think you’re being incredibly childish.”  
The entire class stilled. Dawn could have sworn she heard somebody draw in a deep, apprehensive breath. “That’s three days of detention for you, Ms. Summers. I suggest you pick up your stuff and leave my classroom right now.”

“Fine, before I say something I’ll _actually_ regret,” she snapped, yanking her books off the lab table and jerking her bag off the floor. She stormed out of the room, leaving the door wide open as she went. He would have to close it behind her and she felt satisfied she’d gotten the final jab.

“That’s yet another detention, Ms. Summers,” he called out to her down the hall before flicking the door shut with authority.  
Dawn let out an angry noise and contemplated turning around and storming back into the class. With a disgusted sigh, she turned away from the class and ran head-first into Aiden’s chest.

“Oof,” she grunted as she bounced off nose first. “Hi. Again. I just got four days of detention cause you left without saying a word.”

“You got four days of detention because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut,” he laughed at her, but it wasn’t cruel. She could still see the suspicion in his eyes, but he seemed to have a slight change of heart in his brief time gone. 

“Well, someone has to stand up to that sociopath,” she muttered. “I’ll bet he welcomes you back with open arms, though.”

Aiden smirked smugly and adjusted his backpack. “Oh, I’m sure he will,” he laughed and walked back into the classroom.

She glowered at the closed door for several minutes before stalking away towards the lunchroom where she knew Stiles and the rest of his friends were having lunch. She slid into an empty seat near him and stole the fry cup off of his tray.

“Hey!” he complained, looking at her curiously. “Already decided you hated Harris too much to be in his class?” he arched an eyebrow.

“He kicked me out,” Dawn replied with a shrug, stealing a handful of fries before giving them back.

“What?” Scott asked, eyes wide.

“He’s a psychopath, clearly,” Dawn rolled her eyes and stuffed a couple fries in her mouth.

“How much detention, though?” Stiles winced in sympathy.

“Four days,” she pulled a face and sulked back into her chair.

Isaac whistled lowly and shook his head at her. “What did you do?”

“It wasn’t _really_ my fault,” Dawn hedged. “He paired me up with a boy in our class, who left pretty much after being paired with me. This was apparently my fault, even though I only said hi to him.”

“And that got you four days of detention?” Stiles asked, brows knitted as though he was missing something.

“Well... No... I may have pointed out that all I said was hello and if it was so offensive, then maybe I should stop saying hello to everyone. He said I had too much of an attitude. I may or may not have called him childish at this point…”

“Dawnie…” Stiles wheezed, eyes popping in alarm. “You can’t just say shit like that to Harris!”

“I did... And he kicked me out. So I told him I’d leave before I said anything I actually regretted and left the door wide open after I stormed out. That got me the fourth detention,” she finished with a heavy sigh. “He made me mad.”

“I don’t know whether Harris hates you more because of me, or is now going to hate _me_ more because of _you_ ,” Stiles bemoaned, but he was grinning ecstatically. “I wish I could have been there to see that, I bet his face was priceless. Was it purple? I imagine he goes purple when he’s really mad.”

“I dunno, I wasn’t really focusing on his complexion. I was too embarrassed that a teacher was arguing with me like a toddler,” she snorted and rolled her eyes. “Uncle John is going to kill me.”

“Nah, Harris gave me detention every day for a week once, with an extra hour just because Dad investigated him on something. Dad’ll understand,” Stiles waved off her concern. 

“Hey, at least now you get an extra lunch.”

“Yeah, before my freedom gets stripped at the end of the day.”

“That seems a little bleak,” Scott laughed. “Now who’s gonna cook me dinner?”

“Ah, I said it was a surprise, I never said it was me cooking,” she shook her head at him. “Now it’s definitely not going to be me cooking so there goes one suspect.”

“You’re cooking Scott dinner?” Isaac interrupted, eyebrows arched high, but his face blank and calculating.

“Scott likes to come over and eat all the food in the house because Stiles lets him. I told him if he came over and studied Spanish with me, _someone_ would cook him dinner.” She turned the pointed word on Scott and made a face.

Isaac chuckled and patted Scott on the shoulder, who was pouting deeply.

“Why don’t you come over too, Isaac? We’ll have a big study group after dinner,” Stiles suggested with a lopsided smile. “Obviously we’ve all got classes together, why not?”

“Sure.,” Isaac nodded, looking pleased; like he didn’t get invited places often. Dawn felt like there was a moment passing between the two of them that she didn’t understand.

She was a little perturbed at the fact that _two_ of the people she suspected of being supernatural were going to be in her home. However, she doubted any of them had dastardly plans that didn’t involve setting a textbook on fire.

The rest of lunch passed by in a slew of conversations. Dawn was drawn in by their banter, kept quiet and watched unless she had an opinion on their topics. She wondered, not for the first time, if this was how Oz had felt upon joining Buffy’s group of friends. She was almost sad when the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. She’d actually been having fun.

They all walked together to the gym and went their separate ways to change and stretch. Lydia and Allison grouped closer to Dawn, but Jackson and Danny hung back. Stiles stuck with Scott and Isaac. Dawn couldn’t help but be aware of the fact that both Ethan and Aiden Kettos were staring directly at her. She wished they’d at least be less obvious and it apparently only took her looking back for them to turn away and go about their business. When Coach blew his whistle, they all stopped chattering and fell silent, waiting for his instruction.

Dawn knew the rest of the day would pass with no more incidents, at least from Stiles’ friends. None of them could follow her to detention and four of them had class with her next. 

When Gym was over and they headed to English, she was pleased to see that there was not a single bird in the sky and the windows had already been fixed. They went over the symbolism in Heart of Darkness and literally nothing else happened. It was almost refreshing. However, when English ended, she knew she was going to have to go and face Harris in detention. It wasn’t something she was looking forward to in the slightest. Yet it would literally be the only part of her day that hadn’t been filled with Stiles and his friends.


	9. Detention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn finds out she's not going to be alone in detention and takes her time detailing a list of the all the potentially weird things she's seen, hoping they'll make something "click" for either her or Faith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, I've been sick and stressed. I've also been looking for a good grammar program to help me with my writing and so far, hemingwayapp.com has caused me the most problems and delays so I think I'm going to stop using that one. Grammarly is decent, but I can't afford the full version so don't get the majority of my mistakes. If anyone knows of any good ones, I'm all ears lol

When Dawn arrived at detention, after her English class, Harris was already there, waiting. So was Isaac. She paused in the doorway for a moment before taking the seat in front of him, giving him an incredulous look over her shoulder. He hadn’t said anything earlier about having detention with Harris after school. Possibly because by lunch, he hadn’t had it yet. It was only a couple of moments before Aiden was walking in with a glower that could have melted metal. 

He dropped his bag on the ground and bodily threw himself into the nearest chair, folding his arms and dead-staring at the clock. Dawn honestly couldn’t believe that Harris had actually given him detention too, she had expected to be alone in detention for the week. Unless, of course, Stiles managed to get on Harris’ bad side too. 

The table behind her creaked, as though Isaac had suddenly leaned all of his weight on it. Aiden’s eyes never moved from the clock and he didn’t even pretend to do homework or anything else, for that matter. Dawn shifted uncomfortably and fished a notebook out of her bag. He was creepy, but creeper staring at him, staring at the clock was creepier. She might as well get started on her notes for Faith before she saw the Slayer that afternoon. They were determined to figure out what the problem in Beacon Hills was before it escalated past the point of controlling it. She just hoped that her cousin and his friends weren’t involved, or if they were, that they were the Scoobies in this. She couldn’t help but side-eye Aiden suspiciously. _And whoever this guy is,_ she remarked to herself because he definitely hadn’t been on Stiles’ list. 

She made a bullet point on her paper and began thinking logically, knowing she had almost an hour of total silence to really dig deep. 

_. That movement outside my window my second night  
. Scott is so not subtle, I can’t believe I don’t know what he is  
. Pretty sure he sniffed me at one point. True story.   
. He has weird reactions to things.   
. Also, Jackson’s blue eyes are sometimes REALLY blue.   
. Like...glowing? Maybe, I could have hallucinated that because he’s kinda intimidating.   
. I’ve faced Turok-Han, no way should a 16-year-old boy be intimidating.   
. There is no useful information here. My only connection is that all of them immediately thought I was a threat on sight.   
. Like Aiden. Who literally left a classroom to get away from me after he saw me.   
. They have all pretty much stalked me today  
. Most importantly, they are suspicious about me and I have no clue why.  
. Do I look suspicious to you?  
. Seriously, I’m like...130 pounds soaking wet and I have anime eyes, I’m the opposite of threatening!  
. I couldn’t scare a pair of freaking bunny slippers  
. Maybe straight boys are just stupid because I get along with Lydia and Danny just fine.  
. Also, Jackson is Cordelia. But Lydia is super Willow like, without the babbling and more cold superiority...like Willow can be from time to time, but this is like...all the time. Think about  that for a minute._

Dawn realized that her list was starting to become inane and cut it off with a sigh, lifting her head from her notebook to study the time and focus her attention back on the room around her. Aiden was still sitting stiffly, staring a hole through the clock as each minute ticked by. Isaac was more active and noisy in comparison. She kept hearing shuffling and shifting, like agitation and impatience. 

When the final minute ticked by, Aiden was up like a shot and out the door of the classroom before the teacher even had a chance to open his mouth. He narrowed a reproving glare on Dawn, as though it was her idea to bail without asking permission. She scowled at him and started puttering her stuff away, daring him to stop her. He scowled back, staring over his glasses, but said nothing as Isaac stepped in front of their staring contest. 

“Hey, are you headed to your house from here?” he asked casually, nudging her towards the door. 

She paused momentarily and thought. Would it look suspicious to him if she said no? Did he even know about Faith? She assumed that would be something her cousin had filled everyone in on. Maybe he just wanted a ride to the Stilinski household for their group study session. Dawn knew she was taking too long to think because Isaac was starting to frown. Harris was boring holes into the two of them with his laser eyes, so she grabbed Isaac’s jacket sleeve and pulled him from the room, kicking the door shut behind her. 

“He gives me the wiggins,” she muttered in answer to the quirked eyebrow pointed in her direction. They started to head towards the front doors and she finally gave him her answer. “I wasn’t planning on going straight home,” she told him, noting how his face fell. “I dunno if Stiles told you, but a friend moved here with me and I was gonna spend some time with her before dinner tonight.”

He nodded his head slightly and offered a half-smile, pushing the door open and holding it for her. 

She smiled, blushed and rolled her eyes at herself for having such a predictable reaction. He smiled a little brighter, though, so Dawn couldn’t be too mad at herself. “I could give you a ride to the house, though, if you want,” she blurted out, throwing out any possibility of being casual. Life just wasn’t fair. The monks could have at least made her suave. At least she could tell half-truths like a champ, she felt like they had given her that ability specifically. 

“Yeah, that would be awesome, thanks!” He seemed pleasantly surprised and made a thoughtful expression, almost as though it were a facial reaction to something he’d said in his mind. 

He followed her to her car and the both got in. As she started driving towards the house, she couldn’t help but ask the question that had been burning in the back of her mind for the last hour. “How’d you get detention with Harris?” she aimed for casual this time but knew she’d failed when Isaac shot her a look like a trapped animal. She didn’t want him to think she’d lured him into her car just to interrogate him. “I was just surprised, cause you didn’t mention it while I was telling Stiles about my detention.”

“Oh, that’s cause I didn’t have it then,” he chuckled with a twisted smile. “I have chemistry last period and Harris wasn’t in an entirely good mood. Probably cause someone called him childish," he teased with a smirk.

"So he was sulking like a child? That sounds childish to me..." she shrugged, not taking her eyes off the road.

It didn’t take very long to get from her school to the house and she pulled up behind Stiles’ Jeep in the driveway, threw the car in park and got out, figuring she could at least nab a set of workout clothes while she was there. When she opened the door, she could hear banging come from the kitchen, sounding like more than two pots at least. 

“Who’s here?” Stiles called, not even bothering to stick his head out and see. 

“It’s me and I have Isaac with me,” Dawn answered, strolling into the kitchen with a grin. “Hello!” 

“Ah, Dawnie, my favorite cousin of all time. How was detention with Harris?” Stiles asked, looking up from whatever he was stirring on the stove. 

“It was pretty much even more awful than my entire hometown collapsing, so I’m sure that says something. Also, I’m at least Eighty-Six percent sure that Aiden at least becomes a statue in his spare time,” Dawn muttered. “He has impressive statue skills. He didn’t move or probably even blink for an entire hour. I assume, anyway, I actually did stuff.” 

“He’s new too,” Stiles said with a shrug as if that explained it. “Obviously new people this year must just be weird,” he pulled a face at her.

“I resent that. I’m awesome,” Dawn scoffed, scooting over to him to peek over his shoulder at what he was making. He batted her away with a wooden spoon and she pouted at him. “I’m gonna go see Faith for a bit, I’ll be back before dinner, though.”

“Kay, have fun girl time,” Stiles grinned at her knowingly and Dawn flushed red, remembering that he thought that they were having sex. 

She didn’t know what to say to him, her tongue felt like it was velcroed to the roof of her mouth, her head was about to pop from the pressure of her own embarrassment. So she kissed him on the cheek, muttered that she loved him and bolted up the stairs to her room to grab her clothes and then back out the front door and into her car where it was safe. 

Dawn groaned and dropped her head against the steering wheel. She could think of a million ways that could have gone better. Not that she thought Stiles was going to gossip about it with his friends. Maybe it was better that he thought they were a couple, maybe it would take some of the suspicions off the fact that she went over there a lot. Not that it was suspicious, cause her and Faith were friends. Didn't change the fact that she could _tell_ both Stiles and Uncle John thought it was suspicious that Faith had even come with her in the first place. 

The drive to Faith’s house was short and sweet and her embarrassment still hadn’t quite worn off yet. Faith greeted her as she walked in without knocking and Dawn threw her school bag down in front of the couch with a huff. She waved genially in Faith’s direction, taking off for the bathroom with her exercise clothes in hand. If she was honest with herself, she really hoped that Stiles didn’t tell Isaac or Scott his theories about her and Faith. If she was being _entirely_ honest, she’d say it was because she didn’t want to squash the glimmer of interest she’d seen in Isaac. That felt weird to say, considering she’d only know him a full day and didn’t even really know _him_. But he was cute and seemed interested in getting to know her. Those were both big bonuses in her book.

Dawn exited the bathroom in a pair of starry Capri leggings and a sports bra, ready to do something actually productive. First thing was first, she was going to have to show Faith the notebook and the list she’d come up with, even if it wasn’t much to go on. As Faith read, Dawn paced, trying to think of anything else she’d forgotten to add. 

“I feel like I’m missing something,” Dawn sighed. “I feel like it’s staring me right in the face and I’m looking right overtop of it…” 

Faith frowned, her eyes roving over the list. “I know that I know this…This all sounds so familiar, but I just can’t remember why,” her voice was tinged with frustration, but there was a quirk on her lips as she read through Dawn’s inane rambling. “Scott really sniffed you?” 

“Yeah like...not subtly at all, he just leaned down and smelled me while I was standing close to him,” Dawn shrugged. 

“Maybe he’s into you and wanted to know what you smelled like,” Faith answered mischievously, a smirk twisting her bright red lips. 

“That’s creepy,” Dawn reiterated. 

“No one ever said teenage boys _knew_ what they were doing,” Faith cackled loudly. “You name a couple people here I haven’t met yet. You mentioned Jackson yesterday, but who’s Aiden?”

“That is the weirdest thing. I don’t know.” Dawn answered, expelling a heavy breath and twisting her hands together. “He’s new this year too and Harris paired us together for Chemistry. He took one look at me and got so defensive and weird that he just grabbed his things and left. Which, of course, Harris blamed on me and I may or may not have mouthed off and gotten nearly a week’s worth of detention…” 

“Maybe he thought you were cute, got a boner and had to jet before you noticed,” Faith suggested with arched eyebrows. 

Dawn flushed bright red. “Oh come on,” she scoffed, “not every guy in this town is into me.”

“I dunno, D, you’re pretty cute,” the brunette slayer winked provocatively.

“Oh my god, stop it, otherwise Stiles really is going to think we’re having sex!” Dawn exclaimed with another blush. “Can we please just do some training before I have to go home? I promised Scott I’d study Spanish with him after Dinner tonight.” 

“Study date?” Faith arched an impressed eyebrow. “Already? Nice. See, you do have game and see, I told you Scott was into you,” she scoffed.

“Not a study date, creeper, a study _group_. Isaac was invited too,” Dawn retorted grumpily.

“Wow, a threesome on your second day, Dawnie? That's a little ambitious,” Faith laughed obnoxiously. 

Dawn leveled her with a severely unimpressed glare. “Tease me all you want, Faith; but Stiles still thinks I’m messing around with _you_ ,” she snorted derisively. 

“Hey, I’m a hot piece of ass,” Faith grinned. “I can’t help it that he notices how everyone could possibly be attracted to me.”

“I refuse to contemplate the things my cousin finds attractive. It’s weird and creepy. Stiles is celibate. He doesn’t find things attractive. He is a pure and innocent freaking lambchop,” Dawn paused and thought about it for a second, shuddering dramatically. 

Faith looked at her incredulously for a moment before doubling over, peals of hysterical laughter coming deep from her belly. Dawn couldn’t help but grin at the sound because it was one she rarely got to hear from anyone in her life. Faith sat up and wiped at her eyes, still wheezing a couple chuckles as her breathing evened out.

“Dude, I’ve known your cousin for like...a week and I know that is so far from true it’s literally hysterical,” Faith snorted loudly. 

“I know,” Dawn frowned comically. “He’s going to be the one to traumatize me, I just know it.” 

“Hey, if Buffy hasn’t traumatized you yet then I don’t think Stiles stands a chance,” she teased with a barking laugh. 

“It’s so true it’s sad,” Dawn sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “Let’s go punch things,” she added, perking up just a bit as she headed for the basement and the elaborate training area set up inside it. 

This place had obviously been set up by Watchers. Quiet and unassuming, upstairs: hiding an extreme training facility with an entire arsenal stocked with medieval and current weaponry. It was all skillfully hidden behind bookshelves and pictures, but not high tech like spy movies. Low tech, like the first batman. There were hinges on pictures so you could open it like a book and there would be weapons attached to the back of them by hooks and sheaths, same for the bookcase which Dawn couldn’t move, but Faith could. There were gym mats stacked up in the corner and enough room to lay them out comfortably. She was almost entirely positive that the basement was bigger than the house actually was from above ground. There was a gymnastic horse, like the one Giles had for Buffy in the Magic Box. There was also a weight bench, with more weights than she would probably ever be able to physically lift and a punching bag set up in the corner. It was the perfect private training room for a Watcher and Slayer. 

It kind of made Dawn wonder when there had ever needed to be a Watcher/Slayer combo in Beacon Hills in the first place, considering the house had been pre-set up and pretty dated. Maybe she’d bring it up to Buffy to ask Giles when they talked next. 

Faith took a minute to set up the mats, but when she was ready, her and Dawn started with blocking. Before Dawn could defend other people, she obviously needed to learn how to defend herself and that meant being able to protect herself when she was being attacked. After nearly half an hour of that and they moved on to attacks. By the end of the session, Dawn’s sports bra was drenched in sweat, her skin was clammy and she could literally feel the heat radiating off of her overly flushed skin. 

As soon as Faith called time, Dawn dropped her stance and leaned over to prop her hands on her knees, panting strenuously. “Oh great. It’s -” she took a deep gasping breath, “- nice to know that-” she gulped down another lungful of air. “-I won’t have to worry about them killing me,” she wheezed a laugh took another deep breath. “My lungs will have exploded before they have a chance.” 

Faith laughed loudly and shook her head at her Watcher. “Get a shower, you don’t want to go home smelling like a Boretz demon.” 

“Hey!” Dawn glared. “I would be mildly offended if a shower didn’t sound like actual nirvana right now.” 

“I’m gonna work out a bit more and the music is probably gonna be pretty loud, so just lock up when you leave, okay?” Faith grinned and went to set up her stereo as Dawn nodded her agreement and darted up the stairs. 

The hot water felt heavenly on her skin as she stood under the spray and just let it beat down against her sore muscles. Faith was working her pretty hard, trying to get her in shape for the next possible threat. It had only been a little over a month since Sunnydale had sunk into the ground and it was hard to lose much in that amount of time, but she was only human and there was always room to improve there. 

Thinking of Sunnydale, Dawn felt the tears burn her eyes and she couldn't help but blame the shower. Back home, the house had been so crowded and so _not_ private that the shower had become the only place she'd been able to just feel her emotions. Then again, showers in that house had only lasted five minutes, if you were really lucky. She knew, logically, that she hadn’t been able to really _feel_ her emotions in...years. Not since she’d acted out after Buffy died. It was...too much. Too much to handle, having all of those feelings but nobody being able to really stop and care because there just too much to get done. Too many fights, too many lives to save. There was no time to feel any of it so it was just easier to lock it all away and promise yourself you’d deal with it later. 

Still, once the images started, she couldn't make them stop. The huge crater left behind, filled with her mom and Tara's grave. Her sister, leaping building to building to avoid the crumbling city behind her. Spike not being with her. That chilling mist that hung over her skin like a sheen when she realized that the people on the bus were all that was left. She muffled a whine by biting her lip, all of her muscles tensed and unwilling to unleash the torrential shitstorm apparently brewing in her mind. She shut the shower off quickly and instead tried to focus on little trivial things like drying her hair and realizing she’d left her school clothes in the bathroom downstairs. 

Thankfully Faith was still in the training room and she was able to run down in just a towel without the comments. She changed quickly, grabbed her bag and locked the door behind her as she left to get in her car. Her hands were still shaking and she clenched them angrily, heart pounding painfully against her rib cage as she slid into the driver’s seat and slammed the door, trying to focus on her breathing instead of the swirling storm of emotions threatening to stampede through her. She didn’t have time for it. She had to get home. She had a study group and dinner to contend with. There just wasn’t _time_. It would just have to wait.


End file.
